DragonShadows Season 4
by DragonShadow
Summary: 407- Faith: The series finale of DragonShadow's Powerpuff Girls fanfiction.
1. 401- Hold Me, Eternity

401- Hold Me, Eternity  
  
  
Ah the age of eighteen was finally upon the Powerpuff Girls and their Rowdyruff counterparts. The last few years had been pretty quiet as far as crime fighting as concerned, the villains were finally starting to learn it wasn't wise to trifle with Townsville. So they had time to turn their attention to other things. Blossom turned hers toward her schoolwork and her still growing relationship with Boomer. Bubbles spent most of her time perfecting her art, and so went through a fortune in paper and pencils. Nobody could argue the results though, by now her drawings were being shown in galleries, though only small personal ones, nothing big... yet. Boomer spent his time caught up in Blossom, acting like he was interested in school more to get closer to her than because he cared about his education. Buttercup was busy trying to prepare not just the details, but also her own ego for the wedding that was going to take place soon between her and Brick. The Professor helped her out with paying for it and everything, but mostly she had a lot of decisions to make. Brick in contrast was more worried about his family, the others would all be there of course, but there was one sibling he wished could attend but knew could not.  
  
Brick let out a sigh as he put the group picture of the three boys back on the nightstand beside his bed, though in two days it would be shared permanently with Buttercup. His eyes lingered on the still image of Butch that reflected in the picture, staring back like a ghost come to haunt him forever. He knew his forlorn brother was probably fine wherever he was, but still he couldn't help being a little sad that he wouldn't be able to attend the wedding. He wanted everyone there, and Butch was a part of him really... like a twin.  
  
"You look like you have something on your mind." Buttercup's voice floated to him from the bedroom door. She'd changed a lot in the last few years, though only when they were alone together. She was always the same Buttercup when anyone else was around but with him... well he had to admit he hadn't expected what she became... loving.  
  
"Kind of... just wish both of my brothers could be here." Brick told her in a hushed whisper. She floated over and sat on the bed beside him, putting her arms around his shoulders. "Sure Boomer will be here but it's still like something's missing..."  
  
"I can relate... I don't know what I'd do if one of my sisters... disappeared." Buttercup assured him in an unusually gentle tone of voice. "Even the Chemical X doesn't make us invincible, no matter what else it's capable of... stuff happens." She sighed and kissed his cheek. "Are you going to be okay?"  
  
"Yeah... yeah I'll be fine." Brick told her calmly, though his mind had started working in overdrive already. "Buttercup... you made us by using Chemical X and hoping for us, right?"  
  
"Well yeah, though I didn't plan on THIS." She gave him a teasing smile and rested her chin on his shoulder. "Why?"  
  
"Well you made us how you wanted... what if I could get some and..." Buttercup put a hand over his mouth to cut him off.  
  
"Okay for one thing, there is no more Chemical X. We destroyed it all and only the Professor knows how it was made, and he's sworn never to make it again. For another thing... we don't know what would happen. I wished for good Rowdyruff Boys, not the old ones, who knows what might happen if you tried to make someone that was already alive..."  
  
"Yeah I know, it's too risky..." Brick said quickly with a disarming smile. "It was just a thought, I didn't mean anything by it."  
  
"I think you got some of my personality in the mix because I can hear you planning something. Don't worry, once it starts I'll help you forget all about Butch." She gave him a teasing grin and kissed him on the cheek. "Just try to cheer up until then."  
  
"Alright, I will." He nodded back firmly and smiled to show he was alright, but she still looked a little suspicious of him. Despite that though she turned to float back out the door, she still had a lot of planning to do obviously, a wedding was no small thing. Brick's mind wandered with plans and possibilities, what harm could there be in bringing his brother back... even if just long enough to see the wedding?  
  
He pushed himself off the bed and floated over to the door, going out and floating down to the living room. Blossom and Boomer were playing a video game while Bubbles sat on a chair beside them and drew something, looking at the occasionally. He remembered when she'd made that picture of him and Buttercup, it hadn't been all that bad really.  
  
"Hey Brick." Bubbles looked up from her drawing long enough to notice him. "Buttercup's in the kitchen deciding what food to serve at the reception... you might want to put your two cents in unless you want all chicken wings." She said jokingly.  
  
"I heard that blondy!" Buttercup yelled from the kitchen. Bubbles blushed and went back to her drawing. She'd forgotten they had super-hearing.  
  
"I'm sure whatever she chooses will be fine." Brick said deliberately, sticking his tongue out at Bubbles and crossing her eyes to show he would prefer something else. Bubbles giggled cutely and smiled back as he crossed the living room and headed down into the Professors lab.  
  
He found the Professor working with some equipment near the back of the lab, trying to arrange the wires properly and get it working again so he could continue his research.  
  
"Hey Prof, I need something..." Brick said softly.  
  
"Sure Brick, anything you need, just name it? Are you nervous about the wedding? Need some advice on the honeymoon? Need to have a little 'talk'?" The Professor asked.  
  
"No... I just need some Chemical-X." Brick replied. The Professor twitched spastically and a flash of light came from the console for a moment before the Professor wheeled himself out from under it.  
  
"Why do you need Chemical-X?" He asked in a somewhat bland tone of voice.  
  
"Oh... no reason." Brick shrugged his shoulders and waited a few moments, but the Professor just continued to stare at him until he sighed and spoke again. "I wanted to bring back Butch so he could attend the wedding..."  
  
"Brick, you know how dangerous Chemical-X is, I can't make it just because you feel lonely." The Professor got up and put a hand on Brick's shoulder quickly before he could turn away. "I sympathize, really I do, but there is too much risk and too many unknown variables. Why it could make Butch too powerful or it might not be him at all."  
  
"Yeah..." Brick sighed again and turned away, this time pulling his shoulder out of the Professor's grasp. "I get it." He floated up the stairs and went into the living room again in a much sourer mood than before. He should have known that was what the response would be, still there just might be one way to get his hands on some Chemical-X... if he was lucky.  
  
He smirked at himself as he floated toward the front door. He knew he could live to regret this, but right now he was desperate.  
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Brick floated up to the Volcano Observatory with a bad feeling deep in the pit of his stomach, but he wasn't about to let that stop him. The Professor had refused to make him the Chemical-X, but he had a hunch that if Mojo were motivated enough, he could.  
  
He floated up to the door and pounded on it heavily, waiting a few moments. Nothing happened, so he took the handle and pushed the door open. It wasn't even locked, strange. He figured Mojo more than anyone would value his privacy since he was an evil villain. Of course for all he knew the monkey was gone out of Townsville, it had been two years since the last attack.  
  
"Yo, Mojo." Brick yelled into the front room curiously. "You here you kooked out monkey?" He floated deeper into the building, looking around until he finally found his way into a small library. He found a fluffy red chair faced toward one of the windows with it's occupant taking no notice of the Rowdyruff Boy.  
  
"There you are, what are you doing? I've been calling for you, don't you even greet guests?" Brick demanded. "Well whatever, I need to talk to you."  
  
"Do you know how long I've been the greatest villain of Townsville?" Mojo asked with the slight accent in his voice. It was soft though, almost like he could barely speak. "Longer than any normal monkey could live... but still I have not conquered Townsville or the Powerpuff Girls..."  
  
"Yeah, boohoo and all that, but listen what I wanted was..." Brick was cut off by Mojo.  
  
"Chemical-X..." One gloved, but decidedly weathered hand stuck out from the side of the chair, holding a small vial. "This is the last of the Chemical-X left from the TekTron building, I heisted quite a bit of it before you Powerpuffs destroyed it but... all of the monsters I made with it were defeated."  
  
"Well you should know better than to mess with us..."  
  
"Go ahead, take it. I am trying to give it to you." Mojo said impatiently, but Brick suddenly grew suspicious.  
  
"Why on Earth would you give me anything? Is it poison or something?" He asked.  
  
Mojo gave a derisive laugh at that question. "Please, I am Mojo Jojo, the greatest evil plot planner on the face of the Earth, poison is SO mundane. I will give you the Chemical-X, because there is no longer anything I can do with it. I am no longer able to create weapons or monsters of mass destruction."  
  
"Why not?" Curiously Brick floated around the chair to get a better look at Mojo. He sat in the cushions of the red chair with a smirk on his face, staring back. He had a plethora of gray hairs coating his body and his limbs looked extremely frail.  
  
"Because, unlike you, I grow old and tired. Just take it, before I change my mind." He held out the vial again, and this time Brick took it. "Besides, I suppose it's time I did something nice for my... son."  
  
"Yeah... you're not so bad after all Mojo when you're not wreaking havoc." Brick smiled at him and turned to float back toward the door.  
  
"Goodbye... son." Mojo called after him.  
  
"Later." Brick floated out the door and took off toward home at full speed, eager to see his brother again.  
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"Gullible little vermin..." Mojo grunted to himself as he pushed himself up from the chair. His joints ached and creaked as he hobbled over to a nearby desk and opened the drawer, removing another small bottle. He had told the truth in that he'd had the foresight to grab as much Chemical-X as he could before TekTron had gone down, he knew those accursed girls would destroy it completely.  
  
He took out a small syringe and filled it with some of the liquid, injecting it into his arm. He could feel it flowing through his veins, curing his arthritis and making his body far stronger, and even a little younger in fact. It could not make him immortal since he was not made from it, but it had thus far served him well in extending his life.  
  
"I will take great pleasure in watching you squirm little Rowdyruff Boy, you and your brother and the girls too." He walked back to the window in time to see the last of the crimson streak vanish over the horizon. "Now go, and help my newest scheme unfold." He laughed at the irony of that, letting it ring through his observatory and rain down on the citizens below. Soon he would watch his enemies shiver in despair.  
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Brick smiled to himself as he streaked back with the vial clutched firmly in his hands. All he needed now were the ingredients that Buttercup had used before. He didn't know if that mattered, but he didn't want to take any risks. She'd told him what she used, a video game, a tetherball and a cap. He had easy access to a cap and a video game, but where was he supposed to get a tetherball aside from stealing it from Pokey Oaks kindergarten? He just might have to...  
  
Ah maybe another ball would do. So he streaked back to the house, jamming the vial into his pocket as he went into the living room. It was now empty since everyone else was already in the kitchen eating dinner, so he grabbed a game nobody played anymore and jammed it in his shirt.  
  
"There you are, where have you been?" Buttercup demanded from the door to the kitchen.  
  
"I just wanted to go out for a stroll, you know, get my mind off of things... and onto other things." He turned and smiled at her as charmingly as he knew how. She smirked back and shook her head.  
  
"You're the worst actor on the planet."  
  
"Yeah I know..." Brick sighed. "Just trust me, alright?"  
  
"Where have I heard that before..." Buttercup smirked ironically, knowing she had said that very line to her sisters so many years ago. "Alright fine I'll trust you, but if you break that trust I'll break your arm." She told him.  
  
"Sounds fair to me, I'll be along in a minute to eat dinner." He told her. She glared at him a moment longer before she replied.  
  
"Alright, but hurry up." She turned to head into the kitchen while Brick streaked upstairs to deposit his things in his room. He'd pick up the ball tomorrow and try to bring his brother back by morning, it was a good enough setup, as good as he could hope for at least.  
  
He jammed the stuff in the top of his closet and streaked back downstairs in under a minute, smiling at the others as he sat down at his seat around the table beside Buttercup. The others nodded at him in acknowledgement, but his bride-to-be continued to stare at him suspiciously. Thankfully she didn't say anything to alert the others.  
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Later that night Brick was busy getting ready for bed when Buttercup barged in on him, staring at him like she'd just made an important decision and wanted to share it with him. He'd been with her far too long to not recognize that look.  
  
"Alright, I've reached an important decision." She announced. "You ARE going to tell me what you're doing or I'm calling off the wedding." She told him. She spoke again before he could respond. "I don't want any secrets of any kind between us, so either out with it or goodbye."  
  
"Bye." Brick said jokingly, but she obviously didn't find it very funny. Her eyes narrowed and her arms crossed over her chest. He sighed and looked at her seriously. "Okay look... I managed to get some Chemical-X from Mojo." He told her.  
  
"What!? Brick what did I tell you about that? And you trust Mojo? It's probably poison or something!" She exclaimed incredulously. "How could you be so stupid?"  
  
"Hey it's worth a shot right? This is my twin brother we're talking about here, this is important to me!" Brick told her.  
  
"Well don't come crying to me when you wind up killing us all or something." Buttercup retorted.  
  
"I won't kill us all, God. Will you just calm down... if you're so worried then help me do it, and make sure I do it right." He told her more softly. She glared at him, obviously still upset about his little joke earlier too.  
  
"I guess if I have to protect you I have to. I'll be damned if I let you kill yourself before we get married." She told him seriously. He smiled and reached one arm out to her, beckoning her closer. She just smirked and shook her head. "You need to think about this, goodnight." She turned and left, leaving him with his arm outstretched. He pulled his arm back slowly, still smiling to himself though. She would be fine, she was just very strong-willed. At least now he had someone to be with him when he tried this.  
  
His smile never left his face as he floated back over to the bed and lay down, turning off the lamp beside his bed. If everything went according to plan, his life would be perfect pretty soon...  
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The next day Brick grabbed a ball from Bubbles' closet that was left over from years ago and met Buttercup in the kitchen. Everyone else was out for the day, and they hadn't been at all surprised when Brick and Buttercup had said they'd rather not go. They accepted the pair liked to spend time alone, so they didn't think anything of it.  
  
"I still think you're completely insane for trying this." Buttercup told him as he put the game and ball in the pot, followed by his red cap.  
  
"Insane or not I'm going to do it." Brick reminded her as he took out the vial and uncorked it. It looked just like the rest of the Chemical-X that he'd seen in the past, there didn't seem to be any contamination or anything wrong with it.  
  
"Well... here goes nothing." He said as he held it over the pot full of items and tipped it over slowly, making sure to keep his brother firmly in his mind...  
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The shimmering rainbow colors of Eternity flowed and gently waved around the small boy as he stood on his own personal island that followed him through this place, taking him anywhere he could want to go. His hair waved with it as though he was underwater, his cowlick coming undone so the hair in it could move with the rest. He stood with his arms out at his sides, taking it all in without a worry in the world.  
  
Butch opened his large green eyes and stared at the myriad of endlessly flowing colors, always flowing around each other, but never colliding. He took a deep breath and slowly let it out again, turning to look back at the place that had served as his home for the last few years. It was a mansion in the middle of the maelstrom of colors, the center of everything that was here. Normally people weren't allowed there, but because he was technically one of the defenders of the world, he was.  
  
He turned and walked back to the mansion, his island looked like it was moving under his feet, but it floated through the sea around him like a boat. He'd never figured out how it did that, he just finally learned to accept it.  
  
When he reached the landmass that the mansion was on his own island sank into the main one, vanishing inside of it so he could continue on into the building.  
  
As he passed by the main throne room he could feel something pulling at him, yanking him into all directions at once. He stopped and simply stood in place, waiting for the feeling to pass, but it didn't. He stood there until finally the small glowing form of Seraphim floated up to him.  
  
"Butch? Are you alright? You look kind of pale." The tiny pixie's voice asked. He didn't respond for a moment, just standing there until finally the feeling surged through his entire body all at once, sending him to his knees with a scream of pain. "Master, mistress, we need help!" Seraphim cried out as she floated up next to the former Rowdyruff Boy's head. "Don't worry kid, we won't let you go... hang on." She told him even as the energy surged through his entire body, showing no signs of letting up, even after he ceased to exist...  
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"It doesn't look like it's working..." Brick mumbled as he and Buttercup watched the chemical seep over the objects in the pot. Nothing seemed to be happening though.  
  
"Maybe because Butch was already made it just won't work again." Buttercup suggested. "I know you three showed up much faster than..." Her voice trailed off suddenly when a surge of power ran through the chemical, detonating only an instant later. The blast was strong enough to send everything in the kitchen flying, as well as sending the two kids straight through the wall into the living room.  
  
"Did that happen before...?" Brick grunted as he pushed himself up to a sitting position amid the rubble from the wall.  
  
"Not nearly that powerful..." Buttercup confirmed his suspicions. "I think we just did something very bad..." They both slowly climbed to their feet and tried to see through the smoke and debris that covered the pot where the Chemical-X had gone. Finally it began to clear and they did indeed see a single shape hovering directly over the top.  
  
"Butch?" Brick asked cautiously as he and his girlfriend moved toward the cloud of smoke, ready to fight if they needed to. They waited until the cloud finally cleared enough for them to see clearly... and indeed they did see the green Rowdyruff Boy floating in place with his eyes closed and his arms folded over his chest.  
  
Slowly his eyes opened, though they seemed to surge with a dark green energy for a moment afterward. "Butch... you're alive!" Brick streaked forward and gave his newly reborn brother a tight hug.  
  
"Uhn... Brick?" Butch asked in confusion, looking around him. "Wh... what's going on... why does my head hurt so much..."  
  
"It must just be a side-effect, I can't believe it worked!" Brick grinned happily and dragged his brother into the living room. "The others are going to be so surprised when they see you." Buttercup however didn't appear to be sharing the sentiments, glaring at Butch with distrust clear in her eyes.  
  
"Yeah... what's going on?" The green Rowdyruff Boy asked.  
  
"Me and Buttercup are getting married tomorrow... I wanted you to be there with me as one of the best men." Brick said happily.  
  
"Oh... dude... of course!" Butch shook his head as clear as he could and smiled back. "Hey congrats, yeah I remember... remember seeing something like that from Eternity..."  
  
"Well don't you have something to say Buttercup?" Brick asked his soon-to-be-wife. She glared at him for a moment, then looked at Butch again thoughtfully.  
  
"Whatever... just don't do anything suspicious." Buttercup warned the newly reborn Rowdyruff. Brick frowned darkly at that.  
  
"We'll talk later Buttercup... come on Butch, let's go show the others that you're back." Brick dragged his brother off quickly before buttercup could ruin his mood anymore. He loved her to death, but she could be so cold sometimes. How could she possibly think Butch would hurt them?  
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"Can you tell what's wrong with him master?" Seraphim's high voice asked worriedly. Damien had his hand against the Rowdyruff Boys forehead, seeing just what the problem was. Deliah stood beside him, also studying the boy in her own special way.  
  
"The soul is gone, but not destroyed, we can try to recall it before it loses its cohesion away from his essence." Deliah said gently.  
  
"It's that or let him fall into oblivion..." Damien agreed as he put both of his hands on the boys head. Deliah put hers over the boys heart and they both closed their eyes, concentrating hard. Their power flowed through every vein in Butch's spiritual body, searching through it for the spark of life that had somehow torn itself free.  
  
A swift energy surge greeted Butch's re-entry into his spirit, making him gasp in shock and wince in pain from the experience. Still they couldn't hold him there, something kept pulling him away with enough force to begin ripping his very spirit in half...  
  
"Give it up before we tear him into two pieces..." Damien warned as he took his own advice, backing off and letting whatever this was take Butch's spark back with it. "Something must be anchoring him somewhere, we have to find out where and cut him loose on that end. Seraphim, find him!"  
  
"On my way master!" The small pixie flew off through the hallways of the mansion as fast as she could, heading for the human world.  
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"Butch... Butch are you okay?" Brick's voice floated through the pain, dragging him toward it after something had tried to pull him away. His head was throbbing with pain, to the point where it was nearly unbearable. It lessened somewhat though as he opened his eyes and looked around, seeing the faces of not only his brothers, but the Powerpuff Girls and Professor Utonium as well.  
  
"Yeah... I'll be okay..." Butch grunted and pushed himself up to a sitting position. He hadn't realized he fell, or even when the others had gotten home. All he remembered was that strange mental tugging... and the pain of his throbbing head.  
  
"Just WHAT did you guys do while we were gone?" Blossom glared at Brick and Buttercup accusingly.  
  
"What does it look like we did? We brought Butch back." Brick told her. "It's not our fault something's wrong, we did everything how you always do making someone from Chemical-X."  
  
"And just WHERE did you get this Chemical-X?" The Professor demanded. It was then Brick realized he'd just goofed, he wasn't supposed to have had access to the chemical. If they knew he'd used some obtained from Mojo Jojo they'd really be yelling at him.  
  
"Um... uh..." Brick muttered.  
  
"I told you this was a bad idea, didn't I Brick?" Buttercup told him.  
  
"Will you shut up!? Can you blame me for wanting my brother back!" Brick retorted.  
  
"Sure I can you nimrod!" Buttercup shot back. Blossom leapt between them before it could come to blows however.  
  
"STOP it! Now Brick, from the top, tell us everything that you've been doing for the last few days!" Blossom demanded. Brick stared at her for a moment, then blushed lightly and looked down as he began his little story.  
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When he'd finished the others were all staring at him intently, especially Buttercup. Butch was lying on the couch holding his head since it hurt so much.  
  
"I only wanted all of my brothers here for my wedding..." Brick said in closing, shutting his eyes and waiting for the harsh comments from either the Professor or his love. "I didn't know it would hurt him."  
  
"It's hurting him more than you know kid." Everyone looked up in surprise to see a small glowing form watching them. Blossom and Boomer gasped in surprise, but the others just stared cluelessly.  
  
"Seraphim? What are you doing here?" Blossom asked.  
  
"I came to find Butch, but now it seems there's nothing I can do..." She replied.  
  
"What do you mean?" The Professor asked.  
  
"When you re-created Butch, you drew him... the spark that makes him... well... him away from his ethereal essence. The reason he's so weak is because his soul is being torn in half from the pressure. I came to try and cut him loose on this end but I didn't know he had a new body... I don't know what to do."  
  
"Being torn in half? What does that mean... how can he die if he's already dead?" Boomer asked.  
  
"There's a difference between death and oblivion." Seraphim replied simply.  
  
"No... my fault... damnit!" Brick exclaimed. "We have to find a way to undo this... how do we send him back?" Brick asked.  
  
"No..." Butch grunted as he sat up, looking around at everyone. "I don't want to go back... I want to be at that wedding tomorrow." He said sternly.  
  
"Butch we're not talking about making a last request before death, you won't simply die content again, you will not exist." Seraphim explained. "You won't feel anything, you never will again if we don't fix this."  
  
"I don't care..." Butch replied. "If I won't exist then I won't have any regrets either, but I will regret it if I miss this... I want the wedding to go on as planned tomorrow and I want to be there no matter what." He told them. Everyone just stared at him in silence, unsure of what to say to that. Buttercup especially looked stunned. She'd been so sure minutes before that he was evil or something and now here he was, desperate to be there... but it would not be a happy wedding.  
  
"How long does he have?" Professor Utonium asked Seraphim.  
  
"The tighter he tugs in this direction the tauter the strain becomes, as long as he tries not to feel too much here, he could last until after the wedding. If anything strenuous happens or if he even feels too happy it could snap at any time." She replied.  
  
"How do I cut myself loose once I'm finished and go back to Eternity?" Butch asked the key question in this whole situation.  
  
"You have to simply want to go back, with all your soul. Brick pulled you here, but you wanted to stay, which is why the Lords could not drag you back. You can't go against your innermost wishes, that's why I'm pessimistic about you going back at all. You're already too attached to your siblings." The pixie's words were harsh, but they rang true in the ears of the doomed Rowdyruff Boy. Now that he was here, he wasn't sure he could ever want to go back...  
  
"Then tomorrow we have the wedding as planned." Blossom took charge as usual, though her voice faltered slightly as the spoke the next sentence. "No matter what happens, we not only have to try to make it as happy as we can for Brick and Buttercup but we have to... to grant Butch's last request..." Nobody argued or even responded to that sentiment. They could hope, but at the moment even that hope seemed dim...  
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"Tomorrow, my plot will come to place and they will all tremble before me." Mojo Jojo's maniacal laugh rang through his observatory as he quickly put together yet another invention, though this one was a bit different from the rest. "I, Mojo Jojo, will crush the Powerpuff Girls spirits, I will crush their hearts, their minds, and THEN will I have the mercy to CRUSH their bodies!" He laughed again as he worked, connecting wires and programming his greatest creation yet. It would take all night, but in the end it would be well worth it.  
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Brick lay awake in bed that night, staring up at the moonlit ceiling as he tried to steady his breathing enough to fall into slumber. It proved futile however, his mind kept wandering back to the same worries and troubles over and over again. He couldn't banish his fears and guilt, he wasn't sure he would ever be able to.  
  
He closed his eyes and let out a soft sigh, resting his hands behind his head. He was nowhere near asleep when he felt another pair of lips pressed against his gently, forcing a small smile into his face. He opened his eyes to see Buttercup leaning over him.  
  
"You look like you could use some company." She told him.  
  
"Could use something... maybe a time machine." Brick replied, watching as she laid down beside him on the bed. "You were right, I shouldn't have tried to mess around with that stuff. Thanks to me my brother won't be dead, he won't exist at all..."  
  
"Look Brick, whatever happens tomorrow it's not your fault, okay? Butch could go back if he really wanted to, but he doesn't want to. I know I was suspicious at first... I mean it was possible he was a double or something but... well you just gave him a chance to be where he wants to be."  
  
"Well at least he won't exist to regret it..." Brick retorted acidly. Buttercup slapped him on the shoulder as hard as she could, dragging a grunt of pain out of him. He frowned and rubbed his arm.  
  
"Don't get snippy with me." She ordered before leaning over to kiss him gently again. "Either way tomorrow is a very big day... and whatever happens during it we'll still be together and we'll make each other happy. Whatever the future holds." She smiled slightly and rested her head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her and sighed, finally giving it up. She was right, whatever happened he would just have to live with it... no matter how hard it may turn out to be...  
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The next day at the church, there were dozens of Townsville citizens gathered around for the historic wedding of puff and ruff, and everyone was excited and anticipating what was to come... except for the puffs and ruffs themselves. Even Brick and Buttercup found it hard to enjoy themselves with such a depressing pall hanging over the ceremony. It was one thing to get married, it was another for the same process to be a last request.  
  
Brick stood at the head of the isle in the small black tux he'd bought for the occasion with both of his brothers standing beside him. Butch looked well enough, but he'd been complaining of severe headaches all morning, an effect Seraphim told them was a sign of his straining to stay in this body.  
  
Brick took little note of the music beginning to play while the bridesmaids and such walked down the isle. He had too much on his mind to really concentrate, it wasn't until the wedding march began to play that he really focused on the isle. Buttercup walked slowly down it, as she's rehearsed dozens of times before. She'd asked for permission to float since it was faster, but the pastor had wanted to maintain tradition.  
  
He waited as he was supposed to for her to reach the end of the isle beside him before he took her arm and turned toward the pastor. Despite the situation he couldn't help a small feeling of awkwardness that crept into his stomach, making him perhaps think he wasn't ready for marriage. He knew it was just normal nerves, so he paid it no real heed.  
  
"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join Buttercup Utonium, and Brick Utonium, in holy matrimony." Normally people would have thought it strange for a couple with the same last name to marry, but there was hardly anything normal about this couple. "If any have a reason that these two should not be wed, speak now or forever hold your piece."  
  
Silence prevailed over the church, as it was supposed to, but Butch groaned a bit and put his hand to his head as the headache got worse. Brick looked over at him worriedly, but then looked up at the ceiling when he heard another faint sound, audible only because of his hyper-sensitive hearing. The other puffs and ruffs aside from Butch looked up as well as it only got louder, though the guests only looked on in confusion.  
  
"SCRAMBLE!" Blossom screamed suddenly just as the roof right above the altar came crashing down. The puffs and ruffs all dodged out of the way, with Bubbles grabbing the priest before he could be crushed. Butch however was still in pain and barely realized what was happening before the roof came down right on top of him, along with some kind of spider-like robot.  
  
"Butch!" Brick yelled worriedly.  
  
"You picked the WRONG day to pick a fight you mechanical freak!" Buttercup screamed, taking up a vicious fighting stance beside her fiancé.  
  
"Freak? Now is that any way to speak to the one who will be your destroyer?" A familiar voice came from a speaker on the robot, halting all five active puffs/ruffs in their tracks.  
  
"Mojo, what are you doing here!?" Brick howled. "You knew about Butch didn't you... you knew what would happen somehow!" He screamed angrily.  
  
"Of course, do you think I am an idiot, for if there is one thing Mojo Jojo is not, it is an idiot, because I am an evil genius, the one and only evil genius who will finally CRUSH you in every way!" The robot whirled suddenly to dart to the side... heading straight for Butch.  
  
"Stop it!" Blossom yelled instantly. The five of them streaked into the air, darting for the robot, but it dodged and waved with the grace of an arachnid climbing on its web. Brick surged with crimson light, warping through the air in under an instant to stand beside his brother, kneeling down to pick him up. His head was obviously pounding, he had his eyes clenched shut and his hands over his ears.  
  
"Not this time!" Mojo yelled as the spider fired a ruby red laser right at Brick. It struck him in the forehead, sending him to the floor twitching spastically. Butch fell to the floor in front of him, nearly unconscious by now.  
  
"Butch get out of here! Get back to where you should be!" Boomer yelled just before the spider reached the green Rowdyruff Boy. It's jaws snapped him up and tossed him into the air before closing around him completely, consuming him in a single bite.  
  
"BUTCH!" Brick screamed as he finally regained his strength after the stun blast. He pushed himself to his feet, facing the spider with his fists clenched at his sides. The others joined him quickly, facing the spider down as it seemed to power up, dark green energy pulsing through its limbs.  
  
"Yeees, now you will all be destroyed, for this is no ordinary robot. This is the greatest creation of all time, with the strongest limbs, the most powerful weapons, the greatest brain and most of all... it's powered by Chemical-X!" Mojo's voice howled triumphantly as the robots limbs reshaped themselves, torn apart by the liquid green power of the Chemical-X and put into a different configuration. It assumed a form of a more human-like shape, though it still had a spiders legs on its sides. "And it just had a nice snack!"  
  
"Snack!? I will KILL you!" Brick howled in a rage. "How about it's own legs how's that for a snack? How about your head!?"  
  
"Brick wait!" Blossom and Buttercup exclaimed in unison as Brick flung himself at the machine. He swung his fists in a flurry of lightning quick punches, but the metal arms of the robot blocked each and every strike with incredible precision and speed. A machine enhanced by the Chemical-X as much as the little girls were enhanced by it, they didn't stand a prayer one-on-one.  
  
The metal monster quickly made it inside Brick's defenses and slammed one spidery leg into his stomach, sending him flying into the audience seating. The audience was already in a panicked mob by this time, running to make it out of the church before they could be pulled into the battle, so the Rowdyruff Boy slammed into several rows, tearing them right in half before he screeched to a stop.  
  
"Brick!" Buttercup streaked into the seats to find Brick and fly down to see if he was alright. She let out a sigh of relief when she found him alive, though he didn't look to be in any position to fight anymore. "What the hell were you doing...? Idiot..." She picked him up carefully and turned to watch her sisters along with Boomer face off against the spider.  
  
Blossom looked around to assess the situation. Buttercup had Brick, while her, Bubbles and Boomer were all hampered by their dress clothing. It simply wasn't as maneuverable as their normal clothing, it would slow them down. It was obvious they couldn't afford to not be at their best against this opponent.  
  
"Alright guys, let's get him all at once, hit and run formation Delta-six, go!" She streaked forward with Bubbles and Boomer right behind her, streaking right for the spider-like machine. It swung at her, but her and Bubbles both dodged to the side and lashed out with their feet. It blocked their blows easily, but Boomer streaked in from right in front of it and punched it in the face, sending it through the back wall of the church.  
  
It leapt back to its feet, the metallic spider legs moving more like serpents as it approached them more cautiously.  
  
"Now what?" Boomer asked as he pulled his jacket and dress shirt off, leaving him bare-chested and probably able to move faster.  
  
"I don't see any real weakness, just fight as fast as possible." Blossom announced. Bubbles and Boomer exchanged a glance before the three of them took off at the same time, streaking toward the robot. It leapt back, all of its upper limbs moving quickly to block or dodge every strike any of the three heroes could make.  
  
"Stay here Brick..." Buttercup told her fiancé as she put him on the ground where the podium used to be. He was now conscious, but he was still a bit dazed. "Get your senses back before you try to fight, I have to go help them." She kissed him on the lips swiftly before she turned to streak out and join the battle.  
  
Now they had the robot surrounded on all four sides, but still it moved like quicksilver, blocking and returning every attack as though it could see out of every side of its head. One by one it managed to land blows on each of the Powerpuffs and Rowdyruff, wearing them down while it didn't seem to be suffering any scratches at all.  
  
"Goddamn..." Brick grunted angrily as he pushed himself up to his feet, glaring at the robot. "Butch... my fault. You tricked me you son of a..." He growled deep in his throat as his body began to glow crimson, vanishing into the air suddenly. He appeared just over the robot, startling the others.  
  
They watched as he came down, slamming both feet straight down on the robots head. It didn't phase the metal monster too much though. It straightened quickly, sending Brick flying through the air and whirling to leap after him. He had speed and strength more than any of the Powerpuffs could hope to match, but there was one power it couldn't duplicate... Brick's personal power.  
  
Brick teleported behind it in a flash of crimson light, slamming his foot into the robots back and sending it hurtling through the air. He teleported again just in time to avoid a return strike, coming down on the robots head to slam it down toward the Earth again.  
  
"Got it!" Bubbles sucked in a large breath into her lungs and let it loose, screaming as loudly as her own power would allow. The sonic wave surged through the spider-like robot, paralyzing it in mid air though it continued to plummet toward the ground.  
  
"My turn!" Blossom yelled before she pulled a breath of air into her own lungs. She let it out in a stream of pure cold, engulfing the metallic warrior in a moment and encasing it in a ball of ice. Boomer streaked up and caught it, looking up at Brick.  
  
"Do the honors bro!" Boomer whirled in place and hurled the ball of ice up at his crimson brother.  
  
"Time to die you bolt sucking murderer!" Brick howled as he brought his fist back, plunging it forward to slam it right into the frozen machine. The ice shattered, taking the pieces of the robot with it to scatter around the courtyard of the church.  
  
"Where are you Mojo!? MOJO!" Brick howled once the mechanical menace was dealt with. He streaked around the church as fast as he could, searching for the deranged monkey. "WHERE ARE YOU!?" He bellowed in an utter rage. Buttercup flew up beside him to take hold of his shoulders, making him face her.  
  
"Calm down!" She told him firmly. "I don't think he's actually here... don't worry we'll find him and finish him once and for all... in good time." She smiled slightly.  
  
"It's my fault he was able to do this... if I'd listened or if I'd moved faster or..." Brick grumbled to himself.  
  
"Hey, you can blame yourself until you're blue in the face but don't dwell on it TOO much. Like the others have never made mistakes too." Buttercup assured him. Everyone gathered and glared at her for a few minutes before she finally sighed and corrected herself. "Okay including me." She admitted.  
  
"Well... what now?" Boomer turned slowly to look around the now destroyed church, it had all happened before the wedding was actually completed and finalized. "Do you want to keep going now or try again later?"  
  
"I'm not in the mood for anything happy right now..." Brick turned and floated away from them slowly. "Maybe another day..."  
  
"Oh nonono you don't buster!" Buttercup grabbed his arm and made him face her. "We've had this date pinned for the last nine months, I went to all this trouble this one time to make it perfect. All the nerves, late nights and decision, and you're just going to ignore it because of an accident? HAH! Now get your butt down there and let's finish this like Butch wanted!" Brick turned to stare at her for a moment, his eyes barely showing any emotion until he finally smiled somewhat.  
  
"One problem... we don't have a priest anymore, he ran off." Boomer pointed out.  
  
"I guess one of us has to play it and we can sort out the legalities later, now who wants the job?" Blossom asked. Everyone immediately turned to stare at her. "Oh yeah... of course... silly me..." She sighed and smirked ironically as she floated down toward the spot where the podium had once stood.  
  
"Now come on." Buttercup grabbed her soon-to-be-husbands arm and dragged him down to the ground so that they were standing in front of Blossom.  
  
"Um..." Blossom cleared her throat and waited for Boomer and Bubbles to resume their positions at the pair's sides before she began. "We're here to join Brick and Buttercup in marriage..." She cursed her own memory softly, she hadn't paid enough attention during rehearsals for this. "Um... for the sake of argument we went through the rest now... Do you have your bracelets?" Boomer reached into one of his pants pockets and handed the couple a pair of hoops.  
  
"Brick, do you take Buttercup to be your wife, forever and ever for as long as you both shall live?" Blossom asked?  
  
"I do." Brick replied, smiling at Buttercup out of the corner of his mouth. Buttercup smiled back.  
  
"Buttercup, do you take Brick to be your husband forever and ever, for as long as you both shall live?"  
  
"Yep." Buttercup smirked and looked back over at him. He chuckled and smiled back, taking her hand in his.  
  
"Now go ahead and place the bracelets on each others arms." One at a time Brick and Buttercup slid the bracelets on each other. They fit perfectly on the thickest part of the arm. "With the power vested in me as the leader of the Powerpuff Girls, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss... each other." She said.  
  
Brick smirked and turned to lean gently over to Buttercup, but she kissed him more quickly and furiously, wrapping her arms around him. Blossom Bubbles and Boomer applauded politely until Brick finally pulled back from the kiss, though he didn't pull back from his wife's embrace. He put his head on her shoulder with his eyes closed, trying to pull himself back together.  
  
"It'll be fine..." Buttercup whispered into his ear. "Whatever the future holds, right?" She reminded him softly. Brick didn't respond, just leaning against her shoulder and letting time itself pass over him. He would deal with that later, right now he just needed to absorb everything.  
________________________________________________________________________________  
  
"What happened to him master? Where is he? Did he..."  
  
"No, whatever was shielding him from his soul has been lifted, but he can't find his way back to his spirit. His connection with his body was severed to abruptly, he's confused... and he's still out there... somewhere."  
  
THE END 


	2. 402- The Blue Bomber

402- The Blue Bomber  
  
  
Better days were rarely seen for a crew of superheroes. Soon they would be embarking on a vacation of sorts, though really they were just accompanying the Professor to a convention he wanted to attend. It was still away from Townsville for a little while, so it was still a vacation to them. Even though Buttercup and Brick were still gone on their honeymoon, the others needed a break occasionally too. Blossom though looked puzzled as she examined the invitation her creator had been drooling over these last few days, it just didn't make much sense to her.  
  
"Professor..." The Powerpuff leader asked as she watched him packing up a few things in his bedroom. "This says it's a robotics display, I thought your field was genetic technologies?"  
  
"If what Doctor Light is claiming is really true then this breakthrough could merge the two fields." Professor Utonium said with more excitement than the Powerpuff Girl had perhaps ever heard in his voice. He looked down at her and smiled widely, knowing that at her age she was not only capable of comprehending his kind of stuff now, but craving knowledge more than any of her siblings. "If the press is to be believed, he's discovered a way to make real AI, artificial intelligence."  
  
"Really? But... didn't you already do that with us technically?" Blossom smirked and stared up at him with an innocent smile, making her creator laugh.  
  
"I wouldn't call you girls artificial at all, you know that." He ruffled her hair playfully, scrunching her bow in half until it could pop back up into place again. "You're my real little angels."  
  
"Well if this proves to be true, does that mean you can make us a robot to clean our room and stuff?" Blossom asked playfully.  
  
"Well now we wouldn't want to pass off ALL our responsibilities would we?" The Professor winked at his daughter, drawing a small chuckle from her as he stuffed another shirt into his bag. "Why don't you go make sure Boomer and Bubbles are getting ready too, we have to leave bright and early tomorrow morning."  
  
"Yes Professor." Blossom smiled before she turned to float off into the living room in search of her sibling and boyfriend.   
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The hot lights glared down on the steel table upon which sat a wonder just waiting to awaken. It was vaguely human shaped, but the wires and nervous systems were still strewn about almost randomly, making it hard for even the most knowledgeable to put it together. Still the two scientists worked deep into the night, forgoing their own hygiene and nutrition for this, the culmination of years of work and experience.  
  
"We should take a break, we can finish in the morning." Doctor Thomas Light's partner, Doctor Albert Wily said from the other side of the table as he swiped a rag across his forehead. "It won't do us any good to work all night and finish, only to find we made a mistake in our weary state."  
  
"Yes you're right..." Doctor Light agreed with a swift nod. "Our contribution to the world can wait... a few more hours." He reached up to rub his eyes wearily as he followed his comrade out of the room they'd been in for what seemed like several days, and in fact might have been. He couldn't really tell time at the moment too well, he just knew time was almost up... of course after that he could begin attaining his true reason for all of this...  
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The sun was bright and the air was crisp, clear enough for the entire crowd to be in a pleasant enough mood despite the wait for the Doctors to unveil their newest creation. The wait was fortunate for Professor Utonium and his kids since they arrived late, running into the crowd before the curtains were pulled. Blossom looked around at the crowd while Boomer crossed his arms over his chest, already bored.  
  
"I told you we should have set the alarm clock." Boomer grumbled as he watched the others milling about in companionable patience. "What is this whole thing about anyway?"  
  
"It's about the greatest discovery of our century, artificial intelligence." Blossom reminded him.  
  
"What's that?" Bubbles asked from Boomer's other side, staring at Blossom blankly.  
  
"Artificial intelligence... a robot with the ability to think and reason like we do." Blossom explained in a very teacherly manner. "They've been trying to perfect it for the last twenty years but nobody could ever perfectly emulate human behavior because it's so unpredictable, it just can't be programmed. Now they claim to have done it."  
  
"You catch any of that?" Boomer asked Bubbles. "Because I didn't understand a word." Bubbles giggled while Blossom slapped him across the arm. He rubbed where he'd been slapped and smiled back to show he was only kidding.  
  
"Well as long as we don't have to fight it like we do everything else then it's fine by me." Bubbles giggled and turned to look up at the stage as two men walked out onto it. One was rather short and a bit portly, but he had kind blue eyes that sparkled with intelligence and a bushy white beard that hung down to his knees. The other was a little bit taller with eyes that also showed intelligence, though he looked far older and had no beard.  
  
The bearded doctor walked up to the podium to speak as his eyes scanned the crowd. "Thank you all for coming, as you all know we're here to unveil what could be one of the greatest breakthroughs of our lifetime. I, Doctor Light and my partner, Doctor Wily have created a robot, with the ability to think and feel, like you and me. The applications for this could be as far reaching as delving into space without fear of oxygen or food shortages, or as close as knowing to be careful in household chores."  
  
A hushed murmur spread through the crowd as the doctor smiled to alleviate the tension. "With proper pay, of course." Some people in the audience laughed, while other still muttered among themselves doubtfully. "Now I think I have wasted enough of your time. Here for the first time is the unveiling of the prototype cyberhuman, code named..." He paused as Doctor Wily reached up to grip the rope by the curtains. "ProtoMan." The curtains were drawn aside quickly, revealing a single table sat vertically on the stage. Strapped to it was a vaguely human shaped form, though most of it was missing, revealing the wires and circuitry that practically burst out of the frame.  
  
Doctor Wily took the podium now while Doctor Light wakled over to the robot. "I can assure you future models, with proper funding from our sponsors, will look far more convincing. But still ProtoMan marks the beginning of a new stage in our history." His sharp eyes scanned the crowd, like he was just looking for someone to pick out. The crowd grew increasingly nervous, though many were quickly beginning to become more excited by the prospects. "If there are no objections, we can proceed with the demonstration."  
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The demonstration was absolutely amazing, with various people in the crowd asking the robot questions. It could barely see and it almost seemed to have a childlike mentality. It seemed confused, though this only made the believers even more excited about it. Confusion was a human trait, for a robot to show even that was a gigantic leap. Once it was done, Professor Utonium went into the backstage area with the Puffs/Ruff behind him.  
  
"Doctor." The Professor hailed Doctor Light over to them with a smile. The older man smiled back as he walked over, his eyes flitting down to the heroes occasionally.  
  
"Professor Utonium, I'm honored even you decided to attend. I know it'll be tough outdoing you but I think I'm up for the challenge." Doctor Light said with a lighthearted grin.  
  
"From the looks of those spectators I'd say you already have." Professor Utonium replied with a grin of his own. They shook hands with professional courtesy and a warm look in their eye. They were kin really, working toward similar ends. "I must admit, I have no clue how you solved the problem of limited data for reactions, how did you program it to respond to any situation?"  
  
"Ah, I'm afraid that is a trade secret." Doctor Light joked warmly and put one hand on the Professor's shoulder with a wink. "How long are you in town for? Because I was hoping that you could help me design the first series of cyberhumans that will be used for manual labor that's too dangerous for us mortals."  
  
"Me? Design the cyberhumans? Well I'd love to... but I have to get home, you see my daughter's going to be getting back from her honeymoon soon and..." He was cut off when Blossom jumped in.  
  
"Don't worry about that Professor, I can go back to Townsville myself and make sure everything's in order." She said quickly with a smile on her face. "You go ahead and help out here, I know it would mean a lot to you." The Professor looked down at her with a warm smile on his face.  
  
"Alright Blossom, I'm trusting you to make sure nothing goes wrong at the house." He put one hand on her shoulder and gave her a slight wink. "You girls are growing up way too fast..." He sighed and stood up, moving a little stiffly as he turned toward Doctor Light. "So what do we have to do first?" They wandered off, chatting about how they would cooperate while Boomer and Bubbles moved over to Blossom.  
  
"Whew, finally going home. I'll be glad to be in familiar surroundings." Boomer commented, stretching his back out.  
  
"Boomer, I want you and Bubbles to stay here with the Professor." Boomer looked at the Powerpuff leader in surprise with a somewhat hurt look on his face. "He's getting on in age and I don't want to leave him alone... besides, I don't really trust those doctors. They seem to be hiding something..."  
  
"But what about you and Townsville? It'll be just you, and we could be here a long while. Something could happen." Boomer pointed out worriedly.  
  
"Brick and Buttercup are coming home early in the morning, so we'll be more than capable of protecting Townsville. Please Boomer... I'm trusting you with the Professor's life." Blossom said with one hand on her boyfriend's shoulder. Boomer stared at her a moment, then finally sighed and nodded.  
  
"I can't say no to you..." Boomer replied as he stared back at her. "I'll do my best to keep the Professor safe." He told her. Bubbles cleared her throat beside him and he amended himself. "WE'LL do our best."  
  
"Thanks, I feel better now." Blossom smiled at both of them and took a step back. "Well I guess I'll see you two in a few weeks when the Professor finishes his project."  
  
"Yep, see you then Blossom." Bubbles said, cheerily waving after her sister as she turned to leave the hall the way they had come. Boomer sighed and turned to look back at Bubbles as she watched him for a moment. "The Blue Squad, ready for action!" She joked, jumping into a pose. Boomer smiled and turned to head after the Professor, his companion following soon after.  
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That evening Doctor Light insisted Professor Utonium, Bubbles, and Boomer stay with him until the project was completed, they were here by his request after all. The doctor's lab was larger perhaps than the Professor's own, taking up nearly his entire house. Only a small section was cordoned off for sleeping and eating, with only two bedrooms. So the Professor and the kids had to share a room, but they didn't mind too much.  
  
"This place is huge, look at all this stuff." Bubbles said in awe as she wandered around one of the larger rooms full of computers and various hardware lying about. In the middle of the room was a table similar to the one they'd seen in the presentation, but it didn't have a robot on it. It was nearly midnight, but both her and Boomer had been too hyper to sleep in this new environment.  
  
"I guess you kind of need a lot of stuff when you spend day in and day out building things." Boomer commented as he grabbed a wrench off the table to examine it closely.  
  
"Do you hear something?" Bubbles perked her ear up and listened for a moment, Boomer joining in. There was the sound of electrical wiring being moved about and metal on metal... it was coming from an adjacent room. "Doctor Light must be working on something... we should leave him alone. It's impolite to peep."  
  
"Yeah but Blossom said keep an eye out, and I think Doctor Light building something in the middle of the night is pretty suspicious, don't you?" Boomer pointed out as he made his way over to the door. He pushed the door partway open, at least enough for the puff and ruff to peek through. They could see the doctor still in his lab coat bent over something on another steel table. It looked like little more than a bundle of wires and metal stacked to the side right now. Whatever it was, it was still far from completion.  
  
Bubbles gestured Boomer to move away, so they closed the door and went back into the other room. "Maybe we should keep it to ourselves, I mean it IS his job to build stuff. We should wait and see what he's building before we try to stop him." She pointed out.  
  
"Yeah you're right, we just need to be careful and make sure it's not something he can use against us or the Professor." Boomer replied. "For now... we just watch and wait."  
________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Blossom waited outside the now empty Utonium house the next day with mixed feelings. She really hated leaving Bubbles and Boomer alone all the way out there, especially with the Professor with them, but she knew they wouldn't let anything happen to him. It was also lonely around here without anybody else, so the idea of Buttercup and Brick coming home was sounding better and better. In fact she looked up and saw them streaking toward the house from a distance away.  
  
"Well nice welcome wagon, leave for three weeks and nobody gives a damn." Buttercup commented as she landed in front of her red-headed sister. Despite her harsh words and voice they hugged warmly and smiled at each other. "So where is everybody else?"  
  
"The Professor has a job he wants to help out with somewhere else, so it's up to us to manage the house and guard over Townsville while they're gone." Blossom replied, happy to have someone here with her. "How about you two? Did you guys have a nice trip?"  
  
"Oh it was a blast... over and over again." Buttercup grinned and went inside, leaving Blossom staring at Brick who blushed bright red and followed her in. Finally the Powerpuff leader couldn't help a small chuckle as she turned to follow them inside.  
  
"I take it marriage is really suiting you guys." Blossom commented.  
  
"You have no idea how nice it is." Buttercup replied with a grin. "It's like being on a 24/7 date that never ends." She sat on the couch and stretched out, kicking one foot up over the back in a very relaxed position.  
  
"No matter how much you want it to." Brick added with a sly smile. He quickly ducked the throw pillow his wife hurled at him however. He was grinning when he came back up though, and so was Buttercup. They did indeed both look happier than Blossom remembered before.  
  
"Well just remember, no hanky-panky during the day, too much could happen that'll need our instant attention." Blossom reminded them sternly.  
  
"Yeah yeah we heard the lectures before our wedding." Buttercup grumbled as she reached for the TV remote. "Well might as well see what's going on in the world today." She said as she started flipping through channels.  
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The next few weeks passed with little incident. The Professor was still buried in designing the initial wave of cyberhumans while Bubbles and Boomer kept a close eye on Doctor Light. They started becoming more and more concerned as Doctor Light's secret project was becoming closer and closer to completion. They asked him about it a few times, but each time he gave them a runaround until they were forced to drop the subject.  
  
Blossom took care of the household affairs and led the charge against the forces of evil while Brick still doted on his new wife, and they probably celebrated nightly. Buttercup however had begun to act sort of strange after awhile, looking a bit weathered and just... different in a way neither Brick nor Blossom could pinpoint exactly.  
  
So time passed like a ripple until finally another wave formed at Doctor Light's lab late one night.  
________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Boomer walked through the lab idly looking around at the machinery on his way toward the lab where he'd seen Doctor Light working so many nights before. He didn't trust the doctor at all by now, he'd seen him sneaking about a bit too much for his tastes and he didn't like the idea of him keeping secrets. He knew he should do something about it, but what... maybe he could call Blossom later tonight.  
  
He stopped dead in his tracks when he heard two voices coming from a nearby office. He slowly crept up to the side of the door and listened intently, making them out easily despite the fact that they were whispering. One was Doctor Light, the other was Doctor Wily.  
  
"We both know this is why we built the Neural Interface in the first place! Don't you try to back out on me now!" Wily exclaimed, nearly in a rage. Boomer turned around and stared at the wall so that he was looking right through it in a moment with his X-ray vision. He could see Doctor Light right behind the desk with Wily fuming on his feet in front of it.  
  
"I NEVER intended my work for such a thing!" Doctor Light slammed one fist on the desk, making a piece of paper jump. It was very slight, but Boomer thought he saw blue lines when it faced toward him, a blueprint for something. "Now get out of my sight!"  
  
"You will rue this day Doctor." Wily hissed like a wounded snake as he turned to march toward the door with his fists clenched at his sides. "You should know better than to betray me! You won't live to enjoy your newfound fame!" Quickly Boomer streaked up above the door to hide against the wall as Wily left the room, storming off down the hall.  
  
"Whew..." Boomer whispered to himself before he turned to look through the wall again. Doctor Light was still sitting behind his desk, wearily rubbing his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. In a moment he reached down and picked up the blueprints, staring at them. Then he got up and turned to head into a back room in the direction of the lab he'd gone in nearly every night since the Professor had arrived.  
  
"Wonder what that was about... whatever it was it can't be good." Boomer told himself as he pushed off the wall and floated down the hall. He had to call Blossom and tell her about all of this, see what she recommended him to do.  
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Blossom's hand nimbly reached out to grab the receiver in the kitchen as she continued to mix up a bunch of different foods into a bowl. "Utonium residence, Blossom speaking." She said with a smirk on her face. It was odd getting used to talking like that.  
  
"Blossom, hey." Boomer's very welcome voice came back to her over the phone, bringing a smile to her face.  
  
"Hey Boomer, what's going on on your end?" Blossom asked as she floated into the living room where Buttercup and Brick were pounding on the table, impatiently awaiting their dinner. She smirked at them darkly and threw the bowl in front of them, letting them pick out whatever they wanted while she floated to the side to continue her conversation.  
  
"I'm not exactly sure, but I know something's going on." Boomer replied with something akin to worry in his voice. "Doctor Light's hiding something from us, and just tonight I saw him Doctor Wily fighting about something."  
  
"Well then you should go in and see what it is... get him to tell you about it." Blossom said as she watched Brick pick up a piece of meat. Buttercup stared at it like a dog at a bone though, so he idly threw it at her. She opened her mouth wide and caught it easily, going back to shoveling mouthfuls of vegetables and meat alike into her mouth.  
  
"Alright, I'll do that..." Boomer's voice was silent for a moment. "I hope the Professor finishes soon... I've missed you."  
  
"Aw well I've missed you too." Blossom replied, watching wondrously as Brick began throwing pieces of food randomly in Buttercups direction. She zipped around like they were candy, catching each and every piece in her mouth and swallowing it whole. When he was done Brick clapped in appreciation and Buttercup gave a small bow, floating back to her seat.  
  
"Well I guess I'll leave you to dinner, I'll call back tomorrow to let you know what's going on." Boomer said.  
  
"Alright, I'll talk to you then. Bye." Blossom sighed as she hung up, watching Buttercups shovel even more though half the bowl was already gone. "Seriously Buttercup I haven't even eaten yet."  
  
"I can't help it, I'm HUNGRY." Buttercup shot back as she popped a piece of meat into her mouth.  
  
"I know girls sometimes let themselves go after marriage but this is getting ridiculous." Brick commented with a smirk. A piece of meat slammed into his forehead a moment later with enough force to send him flying back in the chair, falling to the ground heavily. Blossom chuckled and shook her head.  
  
"Alright play nice you two." Blossom said as she popped a piece of meat into her mouth. "Mmm, good. I should cook more often." She smiled and sat down in her own seat, digging into what was left on the side of Buttercup's frantic shoveling.   
  
"Yeah great..." Brick grunted as he hefted himself back up onto his chair. He still had a bit of grease on his forehead where the meat had impacted, but otherwise he looked fine.  
________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Bubbles and Boomer crept through to the lab where they'd seen doctor Light working so many times before, they'd watched his creation take shape until it was almost identifiable as human looking. This last while he'd become good about working with a sheet over it, so they couldn't tell exactly what it was. They watched as he working, they could both hear his heart pounding faster and faster, a sure sign that whatever it was, was close to completion.  
  
"Enough of this... come on, we can't let him do anything to Professor Utonium." Finally Boomer flung the door open and stepped into the lab with Bubbles right beside him. "Hold it right there!" Doctor Light jumped, nearly dropping a pair of pliers on his foot as the Rowdyruff Boy glared at him. "Whatever your evil plot is, you're not getting away with it!"  
  
"Evil plot?" Doctor Light asked, dumbfounded.  
  
"Don't play stupid, why else would you keep it hidden and work so hard if it wasn't something completely evil?" Bubbles demanded.  
  
"I would never do such a thing! I'm working so hard because it's nearly finished, another minute and it would be done!" Doctor Light said with an excited twinkle in his eye.  
  
"What is it then? A death ray? A killer robot assassin?" Boomer demanded. It was clear they wouldn't give up, so the doctor reached over and pulled the blanket off of the table. An extremely humanlike body lay on the table, just a tad taller than Doctor Light himself. It had blue hair on top of its head and the rest of the body looked like a fair imitation of human flesh, though it still looked like metal.  
  
"A... boy?" Bubbles stared at it confused.  
  
"A son." Doctor Light replied softly. Boomer and Bubbles looked up at him as he sighed and looked down at the robot. "I'm too old now to have a son of my own, I would be an old man before he even turned ten. Still... I want a legacy... that is what I've been building here these long weeks." He told them with a gentle look in his eye.  
  
"Why did you hide it? I mean, if we knew it was just another cyberhuman we wouldn't have made such a big fuss about it." Boomer said.  
  
"That's exactly why I didn't want anyone to know, he would be just another cyberhuman to be publicized and gawked at." Doctor Light took the pliers in his hands and worked inside a panel on the boys chest as he spoke. "When in fact he can be so much more... he will be so much more." He took the metal plate in his hand and closed it, clicking the hatch on the thing's chest shut.  
  
"He's cute." Bubbles commented as she floated above the table, looking down at the cyberhumans face as it lay completely still and calm. Doctor Light chuckled and reached over to grab some clothing and pull it onto the robot.  
  
"Why do you need that?" Boomer asked.  
  
"Because it's not just a robot... he will be a son. Just wait." Doctor Light finished dressing the robot in a yellow shirt and red shorts. With the joints covered, it would be nearly impossible to tell him from anybody else in a large crowd.  
  
"It's finished..." Slowly Doctor Light's hand moved up to the things' head to flip open a hatch in the front. With a trembling hand he flipped a switch and shut it quickly. They could all hear the initial startup at the robots systems began to warm up, letting the power flow through the robotic body. Its' arms and legs began to twitch with the current until finally its eyelids began to flutter.  
  
Its' eyes snapped open suddenly, startling Bubbles who had been floating directly over it. Its eyes stared up at her, then slowly began to scan the room around it. It stopped when it saw Doctor Light staring at it with a huge grin on his face.  
  
"Who... am I?" The robot asked.  
  
"You are..." Doctor Light looked around quickly for a name, since he hadn't thought to choose one earlier. "You are... Rock." Doctor Light said with a warm smile. "My son."  
  
"Son..." The cyberhuman repeated, blinking and staring at Doctor Light steadily. "Then... you are my father." Bubbles and Boomer exchanged a quick, amazed glance. The inflection in the word sounded like it understood what that meant, the bond between father and son. It was like it was actually alive.  
  
"Yes, I am." Doctor Light's grin only grew wider as he reached forward to take Rock's hand. Gently he helped the cyberhuman to sit up on the table, watching it with an intense gaze. Rock looked up at the puff and ruff floating above the ground curiously. "These are Bubbles and Boomer, friends."  
  
"Friends..." Rock smiled and nodded up at them courteously. Bubbles and Boomer could only nod back with wide eyes. "Hello."  
  
"Hi!" Bubbles replied cheerily once she got over the initial surprise. Boomer still didn't say a word though as Bubbles floated up to rock. "Boy you're amazing..." She tapped on his chest curiously through the shirt. The cyberhuman just watched her curiously. "You look just like a real boy!"  
  
"But you don't look just like a real girl..." Rock said with a confused look. Bubbles huffed angrily and stamped one foot on the table while Doctor Light and Boomer chuckled.   
  
"It's awfully RUDE though!" She amended herself.  
  
"I'm sorry, I meant no offense." Rock said apologetically as he pushed himself up off the table. He stood like any normal boy, looking around the room and examining everything. It looked back at Bubbles in a moment, smiling somewhat.  
  
"I'm glad you're functional Rock, tomorrow is the unveiling of the first wave of cyberhuman models. You can go... if you want." Doctor Light said.  
  
"I would love to." Rock nodded and looked back at his father, smiling.  
  
"So much for heroically stopping the evil plot..." Boomer grumbled as he followed Doctor Light, Rock, and Bubbles out of the room. He'd kind of been hoping to do something big and brave, but it didn't look like he was needed, at least right now. Still he had to keep his eyes open, Doctor Wily had been upset earlier, but he'd still made a death threat. He'd have to make sure he didn't follow through.  
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Brick's soft breathing was the only sound to be heard in the bedroom he and Buttercup now shared, and that for some reason unnerved him. He reached over sleepily to make sure his wife was beside him, but his arm felt nothing but the sheets. He opened his eyes then, rubbing the sleep from them as he looked around the room.  
  
"Buttercup?" He called out softly, pushing the sheets off of himself. His PJ bottoms rustled softly as the chill night air blew over his bare chest, but he wasn't really affected much. He climbed up from the bed and went out into the hallway, looking around. The bathroom door was closed, but there was a light shining from underneath it. He could also hear sounds.  
  
"Buttercup are you in there?" He put his forehead to the door and listened intently. He could hear the sounds of someone gagging, so he quickly turned the knob and threw the door open, going inside. He found Buttercup hunched over the toilet seat, looking tired and frustrated, and of course, sickly. "Alright that's it, we're taking you to the hospital."  
  
"I don't need it." Buttercup replied sharply. Her green nightgown rustled as she tried to get back up, but she quickly hunched down again, throwing up into the toilet bowl. Brick looked back as Blossom walked up behind them, looking inside the bathroom to see what's going on.  
  
"Buttercup? Are you alright?" She pushed past Brick to rub her sisters' back gently, letting her get it out. "Buttercup we need to get you checked out, we never get sick."  
  
"Ugh..." Buttercup grunted as she sat down on the floor to regain her strength. She didn't argue now though, she knew as well as they did there was something wrong with her.  
  
"I'll go call ahead..." Brick said as he turned to head down to the living room. He prayed it wasn't anything too serious, maybe it was just a cold, a fluke.  
  
He called the hospital and told them they were coming before he grabbed Buttercup and took off through the night air with Buttercup in his arms and Blossom beside him. They didn't even bother getting dressed, finding out what was wrong took precedence over modesty. They went inside and found a doctor that could take her in immediately.  
  
The wait for the results seemed to take forever while they did an entire list of tests. Brick and Blossom waited in the lobby for what felt like an eternity, waiting for someone to tell them it was only the flu or something small like that, certainly not something life-threatening. They were about to crack when a doctor finally hailed them into Buttercup's hospital room.  
  
"Well doc... what's the verdict? How long do I have to live?" Buttercup asked drolly from the hospital bed. She was wearing a paper hospital gown now with her normal clothing on the stand beside her.  
  
"Well I don't know about that, but I can tell you that your symptoms will probably last about another eight months." The doctor said with a gentle smile. The rest stared up at him blankly for a few minutes, trying to figure out what they meant. "It was just morning-sickness, you're pregnant." The puffs and ruff all exchanged one big group glance before the puffs turned to stare at Brick.  
  
Brick blushed and crossed his hands over his chest. "Hey don't look at me like that, it's not like I did this on purpose! I didn't even know she COULD get pregnant."  
  
"Obviously, she can." Blossom retorted with a sigh. She looked up at the doctor. "So I guess she's free to go?"  
  
"Of course, though we'll have to make arrangements for the birth. We can take care of that in the morning though." The doctor replied with a gentle smile. "In the meantime just make sure she gets a lot of rest and doesn't do anything too strenuous, especially after the fourth month." Buttercup groaned and rolled her eyes, glaring at Brick.  
  
"Thanks a lot, the rest of the year is shot for me. I won't even be able to fight monsters." She grumped.  
  
"Hey, it could be worse." Brick said, trying to calm her down. Nothing seemed to be able to though since she just kept right on accusing him of plotting to make the next few months of her life miserable.  
  
"The Professor is going to flip..." Blossom realized softly as she watched Buttercup verbally tearing her husband apart. He just sighed and took it, knowing it was probably just hormones. They would just have to deal with that for awhile, though it would definitely not be easy.  
________________________________________________________________________________  
  
The next day Professor Utonium, Bubbles and Boomer sat in the front row of the audience that had gathered to see the unveiling of the first wave of cyberhumans. The Professor had seen them already of course, he'd helped design them, but still he elected to stay in the crowd with his kids rather than stay on stage. He'd had his spotlight already anyway, it was Doctor Light's turn.  
  
They watched as the Doctor walked up tot he small podium in front of the curtain, straightening his glasses and looking down at a paper in front of him. "It seems like only yesterday we were here, showing the beginning... now here is the finished product of years of research and experimentation. Six new models that will help us greatly in areas that are often too dangerous for us to work in."  
  
The audience sat in respectful silence as they watched him continue his speech. "From construction to electrical wiring, these cyberhumans will revolutionize just what we can accomplish. Effortlessly performing tasks that have claimed many lives before. Now I bring you the first wave, of cyberhumans." He reached up and pulled on a rope, drawing the curtain back. Six robots were revealed to the crowd with very startled gasps. The robots looked nothing like the one they'd seen only weeks before.  
  
"The construction expert, code-named Gutsman. The demolitions experts, Cutsman and Bombman. The spot welder, Fireman. The arctic rescue expert, Iceman. And the electrical engineering expert, Elecman. These six cyberhuman models are only the beginning, of a new age in human society. Are there any questions?" Several dozen spectators raised their hands immediately and he set about calming their fears and answering their questions.  
  
For a while everything went according to plan, until the biggest of the robots, Gutsman, turned to look at Doctor Light with narrowed eyes. "Is it supposed to do that?" Bubbles asked Boomer and the Professor. They shrugged and watched as the robot stepped out of the line.  
  
After a moment Doctor light realized something was wrong and turned, seeing Gutsman right in front of him. "What are you doing? I didn't ask you to come out here." Before he could say anything more the hulking robot stepped forward and grabbed him by the hem of his coat, lifting him easily five feet from the ground so that he was at the robot's eye level.  
  
"I don't take any orders from you." It said in a dark, robot voice. The crowd finally snapped from the tension and started running for the exits in a mad stampede. Before Bubbles and Boomer could jump into action Rock ran out onto the stage from the back.  
  
"Doctor Light!" Rock howled fearfully as he lunged at the much bigger robot, bringing his fist back. He didn't even get close enough to swing however before one of Gutsman's giant hands closed around his chest, hauling him off the stage as well.  
  
"Little pipsqueak..." Gutsman growled, slowly closing its hand into a fist. Rock howled in pain as his chest was crushed like a tin can, bending inward on itself with sparks flying in every direction. Finally the flow of power stopped and he went limp in the robot's hands. "Pathetic." The massive cyberhuman said before he hurled Rock out toward the audience.  
  
"Rock!" Bubbles exclaimed just before she streaked up to catch him. She grabbed him from behind, but he was heavier than he looked. She streaked along with him, leveling him out mere inches from the ground before she turned upward, flying into the air with him clasped in her arms. She let out a sigh of relief and floated back down toward the ground.  
  
"I'll get Doctor Light!" Boomer exclaimed as he streaked in a flash of blue light right toward Gutsman. The robot didn't even have time to see him coming before one tiny fist slammed into his head. The hulking robot was thrown through the back of the stage in a shower of debris. It flew into the rear hall while Doctor Light fell to the ground, released from the cyberhumans grip.  
  
"I wouldn't make any more moves if I were you." Boomer whirled to fight this new voice, but he found the remaining five cyberhumans surrounding him, ready to fight at a moments notice. He stopped, but didn't move away from the doctor as the possessor of the voice walked out calmly onto the stage.  
  
"Wily! You reprogrammed them!" Doctor Light exclaimed when he saw his old partner walk out onto the stage.  
  
"Very good, now I'll tell you another one." Wily laughed delightfully as Doctor Light frowned. "Since I cannot make my money off of this, I will make it another way. Ten billion dollars or else your own creations will destroy this entire city, and move onto other cities.  
  
"You won't get away with this!" Boomer said confidently.  
  
"You have until tomorrow afternoon, then the destruction will begin and won't stop until I get paid every single dime." Doctor Wily snapped his fingers, calling the six robots back to his side. Gutsman seemed uninjured by his trip through the wall aside from a dent where Boomer's fist had impacted it. "Until then, old friend." He laughed as he turned and left the stage, the six robots following right behind him.  
  
"That backstabbing madman..." Doctor Light growled as he pushed himself up to his feet. He looked up when Bubbles floated in front of him, still carrying Rock's body in her arms. "Rock, let me see him." She floated down close enough for the doctor to examine the small cyberhuman. "We need to get him to my lab right away, come on." He turned to head out with Bubbles following close behind. She hoped he would be alright, she hated to see anything bad happen to good people.  
________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Several hours later Doctor Light, Professor Utonium and Bubbles were gathered in the small lab where Rock was hooked up to a power generator. The external repairs were fixed, but his internal systems still needed to catch the charge to activate. Boomer floated into the room with a sigh of defeat and sat down beside his puff counterpart.  
  
"Well, so much for reinforcements. I can't get anybody at home, I've tried like a hundred times. They must be dealing with an emergency of their own." He sighed and put his chin on his hands, trying to think of something to do.  
  
"Could we fly there and find them?" Bubbles asked.  
  
"The round trip would take too long, half this city would be demolished by the time we got back, maybe more if the others are as strong as Gutsman is." Boomer pointed out.  
  
"There must be someone closer to us that could help you two fight them... but at this point I don't think you should fight. Just the two of you wouldn't stand a chance." Professor Utonium said worriedly.  
  
"We can't sit around and do nothing." Boomer shot back.  
  
"D... doctor..." They all turned to watch as Rock finally woke up, blinking his eyes and groaning as he got used to having power flowing through his systems again. "Doctor Light... what happened?" He asked worriedly.  
  
"Don't worry yourself Rock, I'm safe." Doctor Light said. "Well... as safe as anyone can be." He'd expected this to comfort the cyberhuman, but instead it seemed to only make him sigh and lie back in shame, closing his eyes.  
  
"I'm sorry doctor... I couldn't protect you..." Rock said softly.  
  
"You weren't designed to fight, but with your courage I know you would make a great defender." Professor Utonium put one hand on Rock's shoulder. "If you just had more power."  
  
"Well..." Doctor Light hung his head and sat down, not looking up at anybody. "There may be a way but... it'd be irreversible." He looked over at Rock, who was staring back intently. "You would be forever changed... but I will do it if you want me to..." His eyes almost pleaded with his son not to do it, but still the robot looked around him at the others.  
  
"I... want to help protect everyone..." Rock said finally, closing his eyes. "Do it..." He waited on the table while his father slowly reached up to his forehead, opening the small compartment there.  
  
"I'll see you in a bit Rock... just stay strong." His gentle voice said before he flipped the switch and Rock's systems powered down.  
________________________________________________________________________________  
  
"A suit of armor of Doctor Wily's design, made to be fitted onto only the original model cyberhuman. Titanium alloy plating, designed to withstand any damage from traditional weapons and hold up against a fifty megaton blast within a 100 foot radius. A particle plasma stream emitter built into the left arm, which can fire the energy in a devastating wave. Strength and speed enhancing systems as well as an optional optical reflex enhancement built into the helmet. Doctor Wily designed it because he wanted the cyberhumans to fight our wars for us, the ultimate soldier, but I denied it. Now it seems we have no choice."  
  
Rock heard his creator's voice coming to him as he felt the power running through his body again, more intense than ever before. He could feel his enhancement burning inside of his robotic shell, the plasma energy surging about inside of his left arm. He opened his eyes finally, seeing the two scientists and the two kids hovering above him, watching him worriedly.  
  
"Are you okay?" Bubbles asked with concern plain in her voice. He didn't respond, looking past them to see a mirror set up right in front of him. His head and face were the same, with his black hair handing about in a wild tangle, but his body wasn't even his own. The torso plate was a light blue, along with his upper arms and legs. His pelvis, and lower arms and legs were darker however. The armor fit snugly against what had been his shell, revealing his not quite human look.  
  
"Rock? Are you alright?" Doctor Light asked worriedly. The robot stared up at them until finally he pushed off from the table, standing up on his own power. He sighed and looked down at his left arm as the hand retracted into the upper arm area. He examined it for a moment before his hand came out again, as it had been before.  
  
"Rock please say something." Bubbles pleaded innocently.  
  
"This isn't Rock..." The cyberhuman replied, looking over at the helmet sitting on the table. "How much time do we have before they start their attack?"  
  
"A matter of minutes now." Doctor Light replied, looking resigned to something the others couldn't name. "You are Rock... no matter what." His son grabbed the helmet off the table and hefted it. It was dark blue except for a single stripe up the middle that was light blue.  
  
"Doesn't really matter..." Rock replied as he slipped the helmet on over his hair and ears. With the helmet on, there was little indication of the body he'd had before. He looked back at the two puffs who were watching him with wide eyes. "Come on... let's go do what we're here to do." With that he turned to leave the room with the two tiny heroes behind him. Doctor Light could only watch him go, knowing he might have just lost the son he'd wanted so badly.  
________________________________________________________________________________  
  
The sun was bright in the afternoon sky as the blue figure walked out into the center of the city, followed by two smaller blue forms. They looked around, waiting expectantly as the sun moved directly above them. Screams from directly north of them told them that the attack was starting, and at least one of the cyberhumans was moving in their direction.  
  
"We'll take care of this one, you go find another one. We should take them out as quickly as possible before they can hurt anybody." Boomer said as he floated into the air, holding his arms out to his sides with Bubbles beside him. Rock looked back at them and nodded, turning to head west while Boomer and Bubbles waited for the robot to emerge before them.  
  
In a few moments a red and white robot moved into the city square, looking up at them with a dark look in its eyes. It had no hands, instead a pair of torches burned where they should have been. A flame burned on top of its head as well, lighting up even more fiercely as it raised its arms in front of it.  
  
Twin sheets of flame arced toward the puffs as they streaked out of the way, firing back with heat vision. The robot jumped back from the blasts, leaping again as soon as it touched down with the puffs right in front of it. It whirled in the air, putting its arms together and firing one huge ball of flame toward them. The puffs split up and went around it while the robot landed easily on the ground again in a cloud of dust.  
  
"Split up and surround it!" Boomer exclaimed as he went one way and Bubbles went another. Fireman moved his twin flames to trail after them, keeping them from turning toward it lest they fly right into the fire. They met up again right above the robot, staring down at it.  
  
Fireman brought its arms together and fired another ball at them, forcing them to split up again. This time it followed it up with a sudden sheet of flames from both jets that engulfed Bubbles.  
  
"Bubbles!" Boomer streaked over to her and tried to pat her down and douse the fire. She screamed and whirled, trying to put it out in mid air. Finally they managed to put the flames out from the sheer speed of their movements, leaving Bubbles blackened a bit, but otherwise unharmed.  
  
Bubbles coughed up a bit of smoke and reached one hand up to bring one once blond pigtail down into view. The ends were still smoking and it was hardly blond anymore, more like a light black color. She let it go and glared down at the robot, her eyes narrowing.  
  
Boomer floated slowly to the side before she let out a fierce scream, streaking for the robot in a beam of pure blue light. Fireman let fly with both streams of flame, but she plunged right into them, moving too fast for the flames to ignite her before she reached him and slammed her fist into its stomach. Her arms plunged right through it, tearing the wiring out and nearly ripping it right in half as her entire body plunged through the hole she made.  
  
Boomer floated down slowly to survey the damage to the now broken robot before he looked at Bubbles. "Remind me never to cut your hair." He told her before something struck them both from behind, surging through them...  
________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Rock walked through the streets, which were practically deserted. When they'd received the threat from Wily they'd made sure to evacuate the city as much as they could until they got rid of the robots. Now he moved through the empty streets, keeping his senses open for any sign of the attackers that were supposed to be here.  
  
The soft whirring of a blade in the air was his first warning to leap to the side. He barely made it before a blade arced past where he'd been moments before, heading back to the thrower. An orange and with robot with a blade resembling a pair of scissors attached to the top of its head.  
  
"Look alive hero." Rock whirled in time to see a black shape barreling toward him with what looked like a burning string attached to it. The robot barely leapt out of the way before the bomb detonated, taking out a huge section of the wall behind him while Bombman took out another, grinning evilly. "Let's see if you can play catch."  
  
"Catch this." Rock said as his hand drew back into his left arm. He thrust his arm forward, firing a burst of plasma at Bombman, though he didn't see the blade coming at him from behind. It sliced into his side, doubling him over before it turned to head back to its thrower again.  
  
Bombman dodged the blast and threw another bomb, but Rock leapt back, startling Cutman by landing right in front of him. One foot shot up and kicked him in the jaw before Rock followed it with an uppercut, sending the robot to the ground. One of the orange cyberhuman's legs kicked up and slammed into his stomach before he could finish it, sending him stumbling back.  
  
Cutman jumped to its feet and whirled, bringing the blade around in a vicious arc. It sliced through Rock's stomach, doubling him over again while the blade came around again, arcing for his neck. Rock kicked one foot up from his crouched position, slamming it right under Cutmans jaw and sending the robot flying.  
  
Before he could move a bomb detonated right behind him, sending him sailing over the fallen robot to slam into the wall, grunting from the impact and shaking his head clear. He glared at Bombman as he took out another bomb. Cutman was pushing himself to his hands and knees, rubbing his own head to clear it.  
  
Rock lunged forward and blasted a hole right through the smaller robot's back with the plasma cannon, grabbing it a moment later and spinning, hurling it at the much bigger robot. Bombman brought his hand back to throw another bomb before he saw Cutman coming, so he was taken down with the bomb flying off into a random direction. It detonated a moment later, blasting a hole in the street while it's thrower tried to stand up.  
  
"Catch!" Rock yelled as he fired another plasma shot right for Bombman's stomach, which itself was a giant bomb. The resulting explosion nearly leveled the surrounding building and Rock had to bring his arm up to shield his eyes from the piercing light. When it was over both robots bodies were gone, leaving only scorched pavement where they had been.  
  
"Two down, four more out there." Rock said to himself as he turned to resume his vigil through the streets.  
________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Bubbles and Boomer let out grunts of pain as they hit the ground, the power finally surging out of their body while they pushed themselves to their hands and knees. They looked up to see a robot with electrical power surging through its entire body as it approached them, grinning triumphantly. It raised one hand toward them, the power in its body rushing toward its fingertips in less than a moment.  
  
"Move!" Boomer howled as he lunged up from the ground. Bubbles followed him mere miliseconds before the electrical power surged into the ground, tearing the pavement itself apart from the ferocity of the attack. The robot thrust its hands up, letting loose with a dazzling display of power as the electricity arced through the sky toward them.  
  
Two blue streaks dodged and waved between the strands of electrical energy, careful never to let it touch them. Bubbles shrieked when one tendril shot through her after her arm barely scraped one of the bolts. Boomer tried to use his heat vision to stall the robot, but the crimson beam was torn to pieces by the electrical current that surged around it.  
  
"We've got to divert this electricity... gah!" Boomer screamed in shock when a bolt struck him in the chest dead on, tearing through his body and leaving him floating in the air again, in severe pain but not as much as any normal person would be.  
  
"Well what stops electricity?" Bubbles asked as she dodged another bolt. Boomer tried to think as he dodged, thinking back to all the ways Blossom had used to defeat Mojo's robots. Mostly he could only think of pummeling things, but something else came on the edge of his mind... something about sound... shockwaves...  
  
"Bubbles! Use your scream! The shockwave will make the electricity go haywire!" Boomer called up to his puff counterpart, dodging a bolt that just barely missed him. Bubbles flew up a little higher for space and drew in a deep breath, letting out a piercing scream that set every window nearby to shuddering.  
  
The electrical energy around them did indeed begin to fluctuate, but that didn't make it any less dangerous. Bolts danced and surged about randomly, even running through Elecman himself, sending him to his knees. Boomer saw his chance and streaked through the bolts, streaking through the tangled web of power close to the ground and slamming one fist into the robots' face. The metal shell caved in quickly and the robot fell limp to the ground, the traces of its power vanishing into the air.  
  
"Glad you pay attention in school." Bubbles smiled cheerily. "Come on, we should go find Rock, see how he's doing." Boomer nodded and they streaked off to find their friend.  
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Rock walked at a slow pace through the city, keeping an eye open for any sign of the remaining cyberhumans. He looked down when his foot slid on the sidewalk, seeing a patch of ice underneath his foot, despite the fact that it was still the middle of summer. His gaze wandered up to see the entire street ahead of him was iced over, the slick, wet surface reflecting the hot noon sun like it was the most natural thing in the world.  
  
He looked over just as a blue ray of light streaked toward him. He lunged forward in a whirl, but the beam caught his left arm and coated it with ice, disabling his arm cannon until it melted. It shouldn't take too long in the summer heat, but he wouldn't have THAT long if Iceman froze the rest of him. He faced his opponent with his one hand clenched into a fist.  
  
"Getting tired of you and your little buddies." Iceman said before he thrust his hands forward again, moving the freezing lasers in a pattern toward Rock. He lunged out of the way, then slid on the ice and jumped against the wall, leaping off of it to land on the other side of the lasers.  
  
"Catch me if you can Popsicle!" Rock called back as he ran backwards into a side ally. He quickly leapt up and climbed up a fire escape ladder, crouching down to watch Iceman run into the alley after him.  
  
"This is pointless, just give up." Iceman called out as he made his slow way through the alley. Quickly Rock leapt down the ladder, grabbing the bottom rung with his one good hand to swing the rest of his body, slamming both of his feet into Iceman's face. Wily's henchman was thrown back out of the alley to slam into the ground with a heavy thud.  
  
Rock jumped down to the ground and ran out after him, slamming his fist into the slightly smaller robot's stomach to keep him from getting his bearings. He brought his frozen left arm up and slamming it into the robot's back, shattering the ice and freeing his hand.  
  
"Thanks, I needed that." Rock brought his knee up to slam it into his opponents' chest, sending him down to the ground. He raised his left arm and pointed at him, the left hand drawing back into the lower arm to activate the cannon. Without a word Rock fired the plasma charge, blasting a hole right through the robots chest. It grunted and twitched for a moment until it's power finally faded out ad it fell limp.  
  
Rock stared down at it a moment, then looked up when he heard the familiar sound of Bubbles and Boomer streaking through the air toward him. "Hey Rock, are you okay?" Bubbles asked.  
  
"Yeah, well enough. I've taken three." Rock said.  
  
"We've downed two... so who's left?" Boomer asked. Their question was answered when the massive, hulking form of Gutsman walked into the small area where the battle had taken place. It glared at them with narrowed eyes, raising one hand in a beckoning gesture.  
  
"We meet again, pipsqueak." The dark, robotic voice taunted Rock as the robot moved ever closer. "I hope you know, a new paint job won't save you."  
  
"Nothing can save you..." Rock retorted as he brought his plasma cannon to bear. He fired one blast, which slammed head on into the much larger robot's chest. It didn't do anything other than make a black mark however, exploding with no effect.  
  
"Gotta be tough to work on construction." Gutsman taunted and lunged forward swinging one massive fist at the three heroes. Bubbles and Boomer streaked into the air out of reach while Rock leapt backward away from the blow, firing another plasma charge. This one too glanced off of the thick armor that coated the cyberhuman.  
  
Bubbles and Boomer flew down from the sides, striking at him as quickly as they could, but their blows made dents, and little more. Still they buzzed around it like flies, striking and streaking back before he could even hope to get his hands on them.  
  
"Get away from me little bugs." Gutsman demanded, swinging his massive arms over his head to get rid of the puffs. Finally he managed to clip Bubbles' arm, sending her spinning out of control from the unexpected block. The cyberhuman capitalized by bringing his fist back and slamming it into her as hard as he could. The fist was easily as big as Bubbles' entire body, so the blow sent her flying back into the wall behind her, punching a hole through it and perhaps even farther than that.  
  
"Bubbles!" Boomer streaked after her to make sure she as okay, disappearing inside the building and leaving Rock to face the truly massive and intimidating Gutsman.  
  
Rock faced his large opponent with a determined look in his eyes. "You couldn't protect your precious doctor before, what makes you think you can beat me now?" Gutsman asked with a malicious grin. "Even your little pea-shooter is useless." He taunted.  
  
"I'll find a way." Rock replied. He lunged forward and jumped, striking forward with his foot. The kick landed squarely on Gutsman's stomach, but it had no real effect on the massive robot. Still he pressed the assault, striking as hard and fast as he could until one giant hand finally caught him by the throat and hefted him off the ground.  
  
"Give it up, bug. I eat half-pint robots like you for breakfast." Gutsman taunted, laughing loudly as Rock struggled to break his grip. Finally Rock drew his left hand back into his arm, jamming the arm into Gutsman's mouth.  
  
"Eat this bolt bucket." The plasma surge that followed exploded with enough force to take Gutsman's head clear off and blow Rock back against the ground hard, his titanium skin scraping against the street until he skidded to a stop. He opened his eyes in a few moments, his systems jarred from the impact of hitting the ground.  
  
"Rock! Are you okay?" Boomer flew back as fast as he could, Bubbles following more slowly, looking like she'd been hit by an entire junkyard of trucks. "We heard an explosion, are you alright?"  
  
"I'm fine..." Rock climbed to his feet as his hand extended from his left arm again. He stared down at the hulking form of the robot, his eyes closing as he realized he'd done what he set out to do. He could protect Doctor Light now... "Thanks." He said, looking over at the puffs. Bubbles smiles back while Boomer looked down at the headless form of Gutsman in awe. "Let's go back..."  
  
They all looked up suddenly when something appeared in the sky over them. It was a hovercopter, shaped like a skull in the front. They all watched as it hovered over them, watching them before it took off into the sky again. Rock knew immediately who was inside of it... and he knew he would be back.  
  
"I'm beat..." Boomer commented as he turned to float toward Doctor Lights lab again. "Let's get out of here." So they turned to head back to the lab. Even if Wily came back it didn't matter Rock wasn't going anywhere. He'd still be here to fight him off. He would never let him hurt doctor Light or anyone else.  
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Back at Doctor Light's lab, the doctor was looking over the injuries his son had sustained during the battle, trying to repair them while Bubbles and Boomer told tales of how the battles had been won. Rock surprisingly didn't say much as he waited for his creator to finish the repairs. A little later when things quieted down it was about time for the puffs to head back home.  
  
"Wish I could say it's been fun." Boomer said as he stopped outside of the car that would take them back tot he airport. "But really, fighting with a bunch of robots and living in a small room with two other people isn't very fun... and I miss Blossom."  
  
Bubbles giggled and walked up to Rock, who looked back down at her curiously. He wasn't wearing his helmet, so his black hair hung about his face in a wild tangle. "You know you could be a superhero, just need a name... hmm... oh I know! How about Megaman?" She suggested.  
  
"Hmm... we'll have to see about that." Rock smiled politely as he spoke, prompting another giggle from Bubbles.  
  
"I didn't think so." Bubbles grinned. Her and Boomer looked back as Professor Utonium called out for them to join him. "Goodbye Rock, Doctor! I had a good time even if Boomer didn't!" Bubbles called out as she flew back to the car with her counterpart. Rock and Doctor Light waved as the car backed out of the driveway and took off down the street.  
  
"Well, Megaman, should we go inside?" Doctor Light joked with a grin. Rock smiled back and gestured for the doctor to go in first. Before he followed though the cyberhuman turned to look back at the street, smiling out of the corner of his mouth. Finally he turned to follow his creator inside to live like he knew he would, no matter what his responsibilities or powers were now... he was still just Rock.  
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"Well, it sure is a relief to be home. What could happen now?" The Professor commented as he pushed the front door open to the house he and the puffs/ruffs always shared. He went in the living room to find Buttercup lying on the couch with Brick on a nearby chair and Blossom sitting on the very edge of the cushions. "Hey, we're back, nothing going on here I see." He said pleased.  
  
Blossom stood up and walked over to him, smiling nervously. "Um... actually Professor... you know how we always wondered if we could have babies...?"  
  
  
THE END 


	3. 403- Seething Inside

403- Seething Inside  
  
  
  
It took all she had not to grunt and groan from the pressure in her abdomen as she struggled to haul herself along the street. She ran haltingly with as much speed as her legs could manage, her hands trying to help push her along. She could feel the thing growing inside of her ever larger, even faster now it seemed. Despite her best efforts a small grunt escaped her throat and she stumbled somewhat, slamming her shoulder into a nearby wall.  
  
The pain of hitting the wall was negligible, but her annoyance at her physical state was not. Her companion beside her knew better than to try to help her, she was too proud to be helped along by anyone. She just hoped they could reach townsville before their time ran out, she didn't want to bear this responsibility without any help, even a Whoopass Girl needed help with something like this...  
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Life was strange sometimes, so directionless and at the same time so much more precious than anything else. What they did seemed like it had no impact on anything, but still what little they could do made all the difference they needed. Strange indeed, though in her time alongside the Powerpuff Girls Bluebell, formerly Whoopass Bubbles, had learned much. Much about life, helping others, and just being kind.  
  
She'd taken on the new name when her Puff counterpart had introduced her to another friend, Deedee. The much older girl seemed stuck on the name and kept confusing them, so the Whoopass Girl had taken the name for herself. So she had a new name to differentiate herself, and thus decided a change of wardrobe was in order as well. Now she wore a pair of dark blue denim jeans and a black tank top with a dark blue vest over that. Her hair was now longer than it had been in the ponytails, hanging down to the middle of her back.  
  
"You look like you're figuring out the meaning of life." The Whoopass Girl looked to the side and smiled to see Elibell standing beside her. She smiled and sighed, looking back up at the gray, overcast sky just beyond the window of the home they shared. It had taken years for Bluebell to prove that she was indeed different. Still she knew she wasn't completely trusted, not as much as a girlfriend would be, but they were still friends. Someday though she hoped that limit could be lifted.  
  
"If only, then I wouldn't have to live it." Bluebell chuckled and put one fingerless hand against the warm glass in front of her. In all this time she'd never heard from her sister Buttercup or Boston. She had to admit to being a little bit worried, but she knew deep down they probably wouldn't return. They were evil and she was not... Him's influence had been forcibly ripped from her soul, leaving a gaping hole...  
  
"Penny for your thoughts." Eli said as she moved up to stand right beside her friend, staring up at the dull sky. They were stuck in the house for now, mostly because of possible bad weather.  
  
"I'm just a tool..." Bluebell sighed and rested her chin against her palm with her elbow on the windowsill. Elibell chuckled and put one arm around the smaller girls' shoulders, smiling down at her. She'd heard this tune plenty of times before.  
  
"Well if you're a tool you're in the right hands at least." The black girl winked and gave her shoulder a nudge, drawing a small smile from the pufflike girl. "Can't blame a gun for shooting someone after all." She repeated the same words the Whoopass Girl had spoken those years ago when she'd tried to reconcile. This was actually something of a tradition for them, comforting each other and at the same time reaffirming their friendship.  
  
"Yeah I know... I guess I just feel like I always do what SOMEONE tells me to. If Him told me to hurt someone I would, Blossom told me to hurt you, the Powerpuff Girls told me to play nice..." She clenched her fist as much as she could and lightly hit the windowsill. "I'm a puppet no matter what I do."  
  
"Now come on that's not true... you came here to get my forgiveness of your own volition. You DIDN'T kill me because you didn't want to. You helped the Powerpuff Girls fight Him because you wanted to. Nobody told you to do those things, just like nobody told you to love me but you did and you do." Bluebell looked up at her with a solemn gaze.  
  
"Yeah... you're right." She realized with a broad smile. "I'm here because I want to be, not because the Powerpuff Girls told me to be." She floated up from the ground, staring into her friends' eyes with a soft smile. "I'm my own person now, without Him's soul or Blossom's orders, I'm Bluebell Porcelain, the last Whoopass Girl!" She raised one fist into the air proudly while Elibell clapped and grinned.  
  
"That's right, and you'll always be Bluebell the Whoopass Girl, no matter what." Elibell was still grinning as she spoke. Nobody in school new of the special relationship they shared, but they did know they hung out together a whole lot, though Bubbles was still a very good friend. Their names, Bluebell and Elibell, had earned them the name of "Twin Bells of Townsville".  
  
"That's right, and the Powerpuff Girls can just go away if they think I'm becoming a Powerpuff too." Bluebell grinned back. "Whoopass is what I am." She was smiling a bit softer now as she stared into her friends' eyes. "Thanks..." she said, her voice almost beaming with reverence. Eli smiled an put one hand on her shoulder to squeeze it comfortingly just before they both hunched over in pain.  
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Screams of pain rang through the entire city from every citizen as two waves of pure power swept through, running through their bodies in a single instant of unbearable pressure. When it was over most remained in a huddled state while others looked around in fear. The mysterious force had vanished as quickly as it had come, leaving everyone frightened and disoriented. Even the calmest minds were in disarray.  
  
"Wh... what was that?" Blossom's voice shook as she pushed herself to her hands and knees, looking around at her siblings and father scattered throughout the room. The others looked as clueless as she felt, even the Professor was completely stumped. "It felt like a wave or something... it almost crushed me." She admitted, standing up on shaking legs.  
  
"Whatever it was it appears to be gone now." The Professor stood with one hand on the couch to help steady him. "I don't think we should worry about it unless it happens again, it was probably a random astral wind that got caught in the Earth's atmosphere, or an electromagnetic disturbance righting itself." He suggested.  
  
"Whatever it was it fucking HURT!" Buttercup exclaimed like she was the only one that mattered. Normally she probably would have tried to act like she was fine, but her body was hardly normal at the moment. She stood from the couch with her hands on her stomach. "My stomach is STILL aching from whatever that was..." She admitted.  
  
"Is everything alright?" Bubbles asked worriedly, peeking over the back of the couch to gaze at her sister.  
  
"Come on Buttercup, we should check to make sure everything's fine before we do anything else." The Professor took his brunette daughters hand to gently lead her down into his lab. Brick floated after them only a few moments later, leaving Blossom, Bubbles and Boomer alone in the living room.  
  
"That didn't feel like any electromagnetic wave or astral wind to me." Blossom told the others.  
  
"I don't even know what those things are." Bubbles replied.  
  
"Well whether he's right about the cause or not what can we do about it?" Boomer shrugged. "We have no clue where it came from, or even if anyone else felt it." All three of them turned to look at the TV they had been watching when a news bulletin came on.  
  
"A mysterious wave has just swept through Townsville, sending citizens everywhere to the floor in pain and sending many senior citizens and children to the hospital. Authorities say there seems to be no cause for the incident, but say they hope it doesn't happen again." The reporter said in a professional voice. Blossom and Bubbles turned to look at Boomer again when it was over.  
  
"Okay so it affected everyone, we still have no idea where it came from or what it was." Boomer reminded them.  
  
"I guess we just have to hope it doesn't happen ag... HAGH!" Blossom's sentence was interrupted by a fierce cry of pain as she collapsed to the floor, her entire body surging with untold energy. The others collapsed at the same time until the dual wave had passed, leaving them all on the floor again. When they had their bearings back they looked around at each other worriedly.  
  
"We have to stop this, I don't know how many more we can take..." Boomer said. They all turned to look over at the door to the Professor's lab when Brick opened it to guide his wife out to the living room. She looked to be in even more pain than before, clutching her stomach. The Professor came up behind them with a worried frown on his face.  
  
"I don't know what's causing this, but it's extremely powerful. I was in the middle of scanning her when the waves occurred, so I caught the data on the computer in my lab. I'll study it as long as it takes to find out how to stop it, but I'm afraid if we don't stop it soon too many more strikes will... overwhelm the fetus in Buttercup." He said softly.  
  
"Don't worry Professor, we'll investigate every lead we have." Blossom replied with determination ringing in her voice.  
  
"Blossom, what leads?" Boomer asked. "It's just a wave, we don't have any leads."  
  
"That doesn't matter, we can't sit by and watch this happen." Blossom gestured to her brunette sister, who looked too frazzled and pained to care about their conversation. Obviously the baby growing inside of her made the waves even worse for her to endure.  
  
"I'm coming with you guys." Brick announced, moving from his wife's side. "Don't tell me I should be here either, I want to find whatever's doing this to her not sit here and watch her get pummeled by something I can't even see." He replied to the unspoken argument before anyone else even thought to say it. Instead of trying to argue Blossom nodded silently and turned to the others.  
  
"Bubbles, you and me will go check out Mojo's volcano, I wouldn't put this past him. Brick, you and Boomer go anywhere in the city that can emit an electronic pulse, radio stations or satellite towers. Someone must be using something very powerful and thus, very big." Blossom took charge as she always did, issuing the orders without a second thought.  
  
"Alright, on our way." Brick's voice was hard when he spoke. He turned to head out of the house with Boomer only seconds behind him.  
  
"Bubbles, come on, we're running out of time." Blossom ordered as she turned to head out of the house with her pigtailed sister behind her. All she could go on was that her sister and all of Townsville was in pain, and that was enough to push her and all of the Powerpuffs into action.  
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"Uhn..." Whoopass Buttercup let out a small grunt as she fell to the ground, clutching her stomach as another wave of fierce energy tore through her. A single prick of light came from her stomach however, shielding her from the second wave while Eric screamed from the force of it. "Eric... come on... we have to... keep moving..." She crawled over to him and put one hand on his shoulder, trying to help him up.  
  
"This is not fun... is this coming from you?" Eric leaned against her and pushed himself up to his feet to stumble forward again.  
  
"I don't think so, but whatever it is I'm at least partially immune... I just hope we can make it back to Townsville before anyone finds us." She helped to pull him along, making her way down the street on shaking legs with stumbling steps. Her head was pounding, as was everyone elses. She had to get to the Powerpuff Girls, only they could protect her now with Boston gone...  
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"Yo, Mojo!" Blossom stepped into the front hallway of Mojo Jojo's volcano-top observatory, letting out a sharp cry to see if anyone was there. She walked down the hall without another thought, her sister following close behind. "I know you're here somewhere monkey-man, you might as well come out." She demanded.  
  
"I know..." Mojo's voice seemed to come from everywhere at once, resounding through the speakers in the empty hallway. "I have seen, I, Mojo Jojo have seen..." His voice trailed off before he could finish the sentence.  
  
"What are you babbling about? Are you senile?" Blossom's voice was dripping with contempt as she spoke. "Whatever I don't care, all I want to know is are you causing these... GRGHK!" She gasped in pain as another pair of waves surged through her, sending her and Bubbles to their knees. They could even hear Mojo's cry of pain over the intercom.  
  
"Am I, Mojo Jojo, the greatest evil villain the city has ever known, causing this?" Mojo's voice asked, weary and out of breath, as though he'd lost his will and spirit. "I wish with all my heart, Powerpuff Girls, that it was I who was responsible for this, but alas it is not I, but something else that nothing can stop." He told them.  
  
"What are you talking about? Is it Boston? Is Him back?" Blossom asked. "Stop talking in mysteries you senile old codger and speak up before we find you and kick your butt."  
  
"I at once know, and I do not know..." Mojo's voice almost seemed to become more focused from a single direction, like he was walking toward them. The Powerpuff girls turned to face him as he walked down a hall toward them. His body was as it had been years ago, but his face and eyes were haggard, tired. They would have almost thought he had no soul at all. "For all of my research, for all of my evil genius, there are some things even I, Mojo Jojo, am unable to understand."  
  
"What are you saying exactly? That a ghost or something is doing this? Aliens? Vampires? Come on, what is it!?" Blossom was practically screaming in frustration by now.  
  
"It... doesn't matter." Mojo's voice suddenly went up to a higher, almost hysterical pitch as he spoke, laughing halfway through his next sentence. "Half of what I have sought in my life is knowledge and even with that knowledge it doesn't matter!" He laughed outright now, throwing his hands into the air and falling to his knees, his entire body shaking with the force of it. "All the knowledge in the world does not matter!"  
  
"Geeze..." Blossom backed away a few steps, staring at the once evil genius turned madman.  
  
"What's going on Blossom? Should we get him?" Bubbles seemed even more confused than her sister felt, staring down at Mojo.  
  
"I don't think that would do any good Bubbles, let's just get out of here..." Still Blossom's gaze lingered on Mojo Jojo's form writhing in laughter on the floor of the observatory hallway. "It's obvious Mojo can't be behind this, we're only wasting our time here." She turned to head toward the exit in a hurry, moving as fast as she could.  
  
"Anything you do will not matter! In the end, NOTHING will matter!" Mojo's voice called after them, haunting them no matter how fast they tried to move. His laughter rang in their ears like a curse, taunting them with the implications of the insane babble he'd been spouting. They'd always known he was insane, but even so he'd never been like this...  
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"Don't you worry Buttercup..." The Professor's soothing voice helped calm the pained Powerpuff Girl as she lay inside of the capsule he'd erected to monitor her vital signs and make sure the waves didn't finish her or the baby. He didn't know how long he had given them, but any extra time he could give the heroes would have to be enough. "We won't let anything happen."  
  
Buttercup nodded back with her eyes half closed, her hands still hovering over her abdomen. She hadn't yet begun to show at all in her pregnancy, but that didn't matter at the moment. Her pregnancy was still making her more susceptible to whatever this was.  
  
The Professor sighed and shook his head as he plopped down in the chair, watching the recordings of the pulses he'd caught looping in front of him. Two waves back to back, following by an interval and then two waves. There had to be something to it, something to help determine its point of origin. But there didn't seem to be any, he couldn't see anything.  
  
He cringed in pain as another pair of waved surged through him, registering on the computer at the same time, though he didn't notice. His entire body was wracked with unbearable pain for a few moments, leaving him limp in the chair once it had passed. His breath came in short gasps and his muscles ached, but still he forced himself up to look at his daughter's readouts.  
  
Life signs in the capsule had fluctuated, but they were both still there for the moment. With some curiosity he noted that they had fluctuated in time with the waves, their nerves, their brainwaves, even their heartbeats surging in time with the pulse.  
  
Two waves at a time... an interval..." Finally something dawned on the Professor and he reached over to punch at the controls of his computer. He brought the wave data to the sound system and cranked up the speed. Then he reached over to turn the volume up, to have his suspicions confirmed.  
  
"Bum-bum... bum-bum... bum-bum..." The sound echoed through the lab in an unmistakable pattern.  
  
"It's a heartbeat..." The Professor gaped in awe, listening to the steady rhythm of something's heart beating in a definite pattern, though it seemed to become increasingly erratic as the tape wore on. What on Earth could be causing this... or was it even from Earth?  
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"What on Earth is going on here...?" Eli's voice rose with fear as she spoke, staring out at the dark clouds in the sky. She gasped when she saw them moving as usual, but they were moving in random directions. One cloud flowed into another in direct opposition, and indeed even the gentle winds that blew through the city were blowing randomly. One tree waved to the west, while another not ten feet away blew toward the east.  
  
"I don't know... but I should go." Bluebell turned to head over to the door.  
  
"Bluebell... be careful alright?" Eli said with a slight waver in her voice. The Whoopass Girl looked back to give her a comforting smile before turning to head out into the dark outdoors. Shadows stretched over the ground even where there was nothing to block the sun, even the sun itself appeared to have dark spots in it when it poked through the clouds.  
  
She whirled when she heard a grunt coming from a side street beside Eli's house. "Who is that?" She called out a warning, raising her fists in front of her. She waited in tense silence until finally two figures stumbled out of the alley holding each other. One was a boy a few years older than she looked, wearing dark sunglasses and a black leather jacket. The other figure was a girl wearing a black leather jacket and blue denim jeans, and her pitch black hair was down around her face. Still Bluebell recognized her with a gasp.  
  
"Buttercup?" She rushed over to them and put one arm around the second surviving Whoopass Girl. "Buttercup, what happened to you?" She asked.  
  
"It's a long story... there any place we can rest around here..." Buttercup tried to act as tough as normal, but her face was clouded over and one hand still clutched her stomach, which looked swollen up to the point of being rather noticeable.  
  
"Buttercup... are you...?" Bubbles reached down to put one hand over her sisters' stomach, feeling the bulge there.  
  
"It's a long story... I'll tell you when we get inside." Buttercup repeated, leaning against both her sister and the as yet unnamed boy on her other side. Bluebell helped her back into Elibell's house, pulling her up to a couch and sitting her down. She sighed with relief and leaned back against the cushions, her hands idly running over her stomach.  
  
"Now... what's happened to you? Where's Boston? Do you know what's going on here?" Bluebell asked.  
  
"A few months ago we stopped in a small hotel room a ways away from here... I was trying to get some money to pay for our room, but someone tried to beat me there." She glared over at the boy, who just smiled and gave a mock salute in response. "He... tricked me and left me in a warehouse, taking the jewel with him. Awhile later strange things started happening, someone was trying to catch us."  
  
"So then what happened?" Bluebell pressed in a soft voice.  
  
"We evaded them, making our way back here to try to get the Powerpuff Girls' help again but... they caught up to us halfway here. They came very close to killing me, but Eric was the one who found me and got me out of there. The only reason I didn't kill him on sight." Whatever had happened before she still seemed very bitter about it, Bluebell noted. "We thought they were after Boston... but we were wrong."  
  
"Who were they after?" Bluebell pressed again.  
  
"Me... or more precisely... the seed of the past..." She reached down again to run her hands over her abdomen. At Bubbles' blank look she took a deep breath and recited. "The seeds of Eternity, sown by an Eternal Mortal, shall open the door to the ways of the past." She said with a steady glare. "Eric is a mortal in a technical sense, with the power of Eternity... we didn't get that until it was almost too late."  
  
"So... you are pregnant..." Bluebell confirmed with a nod, but still her voice was shaking. "But... but what are you pregnant with? What does the seeds of the past mean...?" She watched her sister intently, but it was Eric who answered the question with one simple question.  
  
"Are you a God-fearing girl?"  
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Blossom streaked up to Brick and Boomer with her sister at her side, stopping as quickly as she'd taken off. The looks on their faces told her what they'd found without even asking, but still she wanted to think they had found something. "Any luck?"  
  
"Nothing, we couldn't even find any towers active on a day like this. One of the operators said it would be stupid to try to use electromagnetic pulses in this weather." Brick replied with a smirk. "I don't see any way we can find out where these pulses are coming from..."  
  
"Hey... has anyone else noticed that they've stopped?" Bubbles realized, looking down at Townsville. The others looked at her, then down at the city along with her.  
  
"You're right, I haven't felt a wave in at least thirty minutes." Blossom replied.  
  
"So maybe it's over!" Bubbles exclaimed happily. "Buttercup will be fine and we can all go home!"  
  
"IF that wasn't just a prelude to something..." Brick mumbled, turning his gaze skyward. The others looked up with him to watch what almost looked like a dark cloud move in front of the sun, writhing and moving like an entire flock of bats the size of cars.  
  
"I hate it when Pessimism is justified." Blossom squinted her eyes and stared at the creatures, vaguely making out that it was indeed an entire flock of creatures coming toward them. "There must be thousands of them... but what the hell are they?" She mumbled to herself.  
  
"Whatever they are, they aren't our only problem. Look!" Boomer pointed back down at Townsville. The others whirled and looked down at the city just as one of the buildings seemed to distort like someone fiddling with a picture. The brick walls changed colors at random and even began to run together before becoming rock solid again in the formation they'd melted into. After a few moments of this the building was weakened enough to collapse in on itself in a shower of debris.  
  
"What should we do? We can't try to save people AND fight off these things?" Bubbles said.  
  
Blossom thought for a moment before she finally made a decision. "We have to try... Boomer, you and me take on the birds, Brick and Bubbles, you two go try to make sure nobody gets hurt. Let's GO!" With that Blossom and Boomer streaked up into the sky against the wave of creatures that was still descending upon them while Bubbles and Brick went town into the city to try to save as many lives as they could. Blossom, though, was afraid it just might be futile this time.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED  
  
(These fics and many more can also be found at http://dragonshadow83.tripod.com) 


	4. 404- Chaos and Confusion

Last time. Unexplainable energy waves resembling heartbeats, Mojo Jojo's indecipherable ramblings, God himself returning to the world through the womb of a Whoopass Girl, a wave of draconic shadows, and the collapse of the very core of the world for no apparent reason... let's move past the beginning now.  
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404- Chaos and Confusion  
  
Blossom let out a fierce roar as she streaked toward the mass of dark forms, showing no fear and not letting herself even sweat with the darkness looming ever closer. Boomer flew right beside her with the same solid resolve showing on his face, his eyes glowing gently with his barely contained anxiety. The mass in front of them seemed to be expanding every millisecond it took them to reach the shadows, even though it must have only taken a few moments.  
  
The two puffs plunged into the seething mass with their fists flying, streaking through the crowd in two points of light and striking anything that moved around them. The darkness writhed and whirled like a single living entity, claws lashing out at them, scraping across their skin and clutching at them. They moved like daggers however, cutting through the darkness too fast for any of them to catch firm hold, though they hardly got through scratch free.  
  
Blossom looked back a fraction of a second to see several dozen shadows still moving past them toward the ground. "Boomer, we can't let them get to Townsville until Brick and Bubbles get everyone out!" She yelled, taking one dark claw in the side for her trouble. She took a deep, pained breath as she spiraled back a moment. She righted herself quickly though and tried to take off again, but several dozen claws clamped onto her at once, holding her there.  
  
"Boomer!" She exclaimed, struggling to get free. Even more claws latched onto her though as one pair of dark red eyes flew up in front of her, hovering with its dark wings spread, she got her first good look at one of the creatures against the little light that shone through the clouds. Its body was roughly half as big as a grown man, and its wingspan was easily twice that length. Each foot ended in a claw extruding from the almost serpent-like body.  
  
Blossom's eyes widened when the thing opened its jaws, a sphere of pearl white light forming between the pair of deadly looking jaws. "Boomer!" She screamed again as the light grew more intense, pulsing in stark contrast with the darkness cast by the rest of the shadows around them. She tried to pull away from the claws that held her, but they held her fast.  
  
A single blue light streaked up from the bottom, slamming into the shadow and sending it flying back. The pearl light that had been forming shot out in a dazzling beam into the sky, piercing through several other shadows, and sending them plummeting to the ground. The blue light turned in an instant and slammed into Blossom, grabbing onto her and trying to pull her away from the shadows.  
  
"Come on... I got you!" Boomer howled as he strained to pull her from the shadow's grasp. The sounds of the creatures shrieking and flapping their wings furiously filled the air, their claws tearing at her arms and legs, trying to hold onto her.  
  
Finally Boomer managed to tear Blossom out of their grasp and took off out of the swarm of dark shadows. She could see in the light that he had scratches all up and down his arms and legs, and she'd fared no better. He pulled her along with him with his arms wrapped around her torso, her back against his chest. They streaked down into the city proper, flying among the buildings as fast as they could,  
  
"Boomer wait, they're attacking the citizens!" Blossom yelled up at him, trying to squirm out of his arms. He held her tight though and kept flying, not looking back.  
  
"They're attacking US too!" Boomer replied, yelling to be heard over the wind. Blossom looked behind them to see several dozen of the shadows trailing them, their eyes glowing with a furious crimson light.  
  
"Boomer, the forest! Their wings will slow them down, they won't be able to maneuver as well!" Blossom pointed to the side, to the forest that stood in the center of Townsville and had once served as the Rowdyruff Boys home. Boomer swerved to streak toward the forest, leaving the shadows behind the plunging into it. He moved easily through the narrow spaces between trunks and through branches.  
  
The shadows had no hope of keeping up with them here where their wings were far too wide for effective maneuvering. Boomer outdistanced them in a matter of moments and streaked up into the foliage, landing on one of the larger upper branches to set Blossom down. They both kneeled and listened as the creatures hurried through the forest as fast as they could.  
  
The sound of twigs snapping and leaves crackling came from below them as the shadows scoured the area, moving with surprising swiftness even without their wings. They waited until the sounds of the leaves faded, but they could still hear the steady breath of one of the creatures with their super-hearing. It was waiting for them to reveal themselves... and they didn't know how many more were around.  
  
"Trapped... while everywhere around us people are dying..." Blossom whispered under her breath. She was nearly inaudible, but Boomer's hearing was just enough to make it out.  
  
"Brick and Bubbles are doing what they can... I just hope it's enough." Boomer replied just as softly, looking down through the foliage. He couldn't see the shadow anywhere, but he could still hear it. The moment they tried to move they would probably be swamped, so for now, it was a waiting game.  
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"Come on, move it move it!" Brick shouted, trying to get the attention of the Townsville citizens who were running about in a panic. Some took the hint and ran in the direction he was pointing, while others simply kept running around screaming. The distortions that were tearing at the buildings, ground, even the people who were unlucky enough to be caught in them seemed to be increasing in frequency. He couldn't begin to guess what was causing them, but whatever it was it didn't care what was there at the time.  
  
"Please listen, we have to get out of here now!" Bubbles pleaded with the people, but they were too panicked to listen much. There was nothing she could do as another distortion warped a park bench into a twisted mass of steel and wood, almost becoming porous as well. The edge of the same distortion caught a man in its grasp, warping his arm into a tangled mass of what it had once been. He screamed and fell to the ground, clutching his arm in pain.  
  
"Oh man, we've got company!" Brick exclaimed when he saw several of the shadow creatures dropping fro the sky onto the already panicked citizens. "Bubbles, keep trying to get the people out of here, I'll see if I can take out the monsters!" Brick shouted to the other puff. She nodded and streaked over to a group of stragglers while he took off to intercept one of the shadows that was preying on one of the civilians.  
  
Brick slammed one fist into the things head, sending it reeling back from the force of that one blow. He pressed the advantage, taking swing after swing and pounding it until it finally slammed into the side of one wall. Before he could even begin to celebrate his victory however five more came down behind him, trying to grab hold of him.  
  
He did a backflip over them and slammed his feet into the back of one head, but the other four whirled on him and even more came up behind him again. He streaked straight up to avoid the trap, only to run into even more coming down from above.  
  
"How many of you can there be!?" He demanded. He was give his answer a few moments later when he saw an entire cloud of shadows sweeping down onto the city. The sky was blotted out from the sheer mass of them, casting a shadow over the entire city.  
  
His eyes widened when several pearl white beams of light came from the mass, streaking toward him. His body pulsed red until he warped from there down toward the ground, taking off as fast as he could. The beams behind him took down several smaller buildings in a single blow, the dust and debris being kicked up in clouds.  
  
"Bubbles! We have to get out of here!" He yelled when he found the blonde puff holding a little girl in her arms and trying to avoid the distortions that popped up every second.  
  
"But there's still people out here!" Bubbles yelled back over the noise of the creature's victory cries and the screams of the Townsville citizens.  
  
"We've run out of time, there are too many to fight! We've done what we can but we won't be able to stop whatever is sending these things if we fight to the death now let's go!" Brick grabbed her arm and turned to streak away form the mass of creatures that swarmed through the streets. Bubbles flew beside him, still clutching the little girl in one arm.  
  
They flew through the dark, muddy sky as fast as they could, quickly putting distance between themselves and the attackers. The girl in Bubbles' arms whimpered in fear, but she didn't scream or cry out, giving away their position. After a few minutes of flying Brick finally pulled Bubbles down toward the ground, punching his way into a convenience store and streaking through to the back.  
  
They hid in the back of the store and listened to the creatures filing in, destroying things at random in a furious frenzy. It was hard to tell if they were actually hunting them, or if they just happened to have been in sight to attack.  
  
"We have to get back to the Professor's place..." Brick whispered softly. Bubbles nodded and looked down at the girl still clutched in her arms. "We'll have to bring her with us." He answered the unasked question.  
  
He took both of the girls' hands and led them through the back, finding the rear emergency exit so they could emerge into the dim sunlight to make their way back home. He hoped the Professor and, more importantly, Buttercup were all right. Well with the waves gone, she would at least be able to fight back, but with even the pair of puffs here failing, how long could she hold out?  
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"So wait... you're saying... you're going to give birth to... God?" Bluebell's voice was blank with shock, and Elibell stood in the doorway to the living room with a similar expression painted on her face.  
  
Well I guess someone... ooh... someone has to..." Buttercup put her hands on her abdomen, squeezing her eyes shut. "Uhn... my stomach..." She grunted in pain, opened her eyes halfway just as Eli's mother walked into the room.  
  
"What's going on in here?" She demanded gently, but with enough authority to suggest she wouldn't take 'nothing' as an answer.  
  
"Buttercup are you all right?" Eric asked worriedly, taking one of her hands in his.  
  
"I... I think..." Buttercup gulped, staring down at her stomach. "I think it's... coming..." Her eyes squeezed shut again as she gave a small shudder. "Oh yeah it's coming... oh man..."  
  
"Mom she's having a baby!" Elibell was close to panic watching Buttercup trying to keep her composure.  
  
"What? Eli call 911, Bluebell, get me a warm towel just in case." Mrs. Porcelain was a trained nurse, so knew how to take charge. Eli ran into the kitchen while Bluebell streaked into the back of the house to fetch a towel. She came back out in under three seconds, before the older woman even had Buttercup lying on her back on the coffee table.  
  
"Thanks." She took the towel and looked up at Buttercup. "Look at me." She demanded seriously. Buttercup looked back down at her, though her face was panicked and clouded somewhat. "We only have a few minutes, Eli how about that ambulance?"  
  
"I can't get anything, not even a signal." Eli cried back, heading into the living room with the rest of them. "Something must be going on out there." She said.  
  
"Great... timing..." Buttercup grunted and put her hands on her abdomen, squeezing her eyes shut again. "Is it too late for an abortion?" She joked.  
  
"Just missed the window." Mrs. Porcelain replied in a light tone of voice though her face was still dead serious. "Okay we'll have to deliver it here... I'm not sure exactly how this'll go with the physical differences but... I should imagine it wouldn't be so horribly different."  
  
"That's what they thought about our aging!" Buttercup snapped back like a wolf before she let out another grunt, squeezing her eyes shut. Nobody could respond to that, it was true there was a lot about them that nobody had been able to predict. Any complications here could mean the end of her or the baby, or both.  
  
"Alright... it's now or never..." Mrs. Porcelain said a silent prayer as she reached for the rim of Buttercups pants, to decide the fate of what could possibly be the thing that had created them all. And she'd always thought childbirth under normal circumstances was strenuous.  
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A dark form blended with the cold gray sky that prevailed over Townsville, or rather, the entire world. It landed on the roof of a certain building, drawn by a presence so familiar he could practically feel it in his blood. It was so close to time now, time for things to truly come full circle, for him and his longtime companion to once again rule over this world. History had made them mortal enemies. In truth, they were as brothers.  
  
Boston, or rather, Lucifer looked up at the sky, seeing the dark shapes that had once torn their world asunder with them helpless to do anything about it. The dragons that had torn the world into pieces before his son and his sons wife had managed to contain Pandora. Now they were loose again, and even he couldn't figure out why. Pandora was at full strength, it would be no trouble to blink them out if he desired. Why would he go to this trouble?  
  
"I can't afford an interruption now, and neither can they." He said to himself, raising his clawed hands high above his head. His full power surged forth, triumphant and great after being contained for so long within the ice, and then within this boys mind. The power spread outward from his raised claws in a crimson sheet, flowing down the sides of the building.  
  
The shield touched the ground a few minutes before the initial wave of dragons arrived, but the majority of them flew right past without bothering. The few that saw him and tried to attack were disintegrated on contact with the crimson barrier. These beasts weren't even after him, they didn't seem to be after anything. They were rampaging at random, without purpose or even malice. Pandora was chaos incarnate, but this was pushing that distinction to insane lengths.  
  
"What is happening to you?" He looked up at the stars as though he were looking for an answer, looking past the crimson shield over his head and the wall of dark space that was the cosmos. His question went unanswered however, by human or other means. Perhaps once he was back, his brethren would know the truth. He could only hope.  
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The images on the news made both the Professor's and Buttercups hearts grow cold with fear. The images of the dark shadows descending on the city, the few glimpses the cameras had caught of the other Powerpuffs and Rowdyruffs trying to fight it off. The brunette puff was still recovering from the pain she'd felt during the waves, but now that was being quickly replaced by a new kind of pain. The pain of not being able to do anything.  
  
"Professor, what should we do?" Buttercup's voice was soft, almost reverent when she spoke.  
  
"I don't know Buttercup... I honestly don't know." The Professor replied with a soft sigh. "It doesn't make any sense, there's nothing like those things in nature, or even outside of nature. I don't know what they are or what those waves were, we don't even know where you sisters are right now." He clenched his fist angrily and turned the TV off, walking over to the window.  
  
Buttercup floated up beside him with one hand still over her abdomen. "I have to go out there and find them, they might need me."  
  
"You shouldn't fight in your condition, especially against such overwhelming odds. You could lose your child or your life." The Professor pleaded with his strong-willed daughter.  
  
"Better my life than everyone else's lives." Buttercup muttered as she turned to streak out the front door before the Professor could stop her. She streaked up into the sky, heading through the dark sky though by all accounts it should have been a few hours to sunset. Everything looked different spread out below her, like something had come down and leeched every ounce of peace out of the ground itself.  
  
Eventually she saw three shapes running along the ground beneath her. She would have thought nothing of it if they hadn't been passing under a street lamp, revealing an unmistakable red cap. "Brick! There you are!" She cried out, streaking down toward them. Brick, Bubbles and the girl looked up to watch her fly toward them.  
  
"Buttercup! You're safe!" Brick streaked up in a crimson beam to meet her halfway, catching her and wrapping his arms around her tightly. "Geeze I was worried sick the waves had finished you off before they stopped... and then with this swarm of... things..." He began.  
  
"Hey you shut up." Buttercup punched his arm lightly pulling away. "I won't be taken down THAT easily, you should have known that." She gave him a sly wink and a warm smile. He smiled back as they floated back down toward the ground.  
  
"Buttercup, what about the Professor? Is he okay?" Bubbles asked worriedly with the girl still held in her arms. She seemed too dazed to really take stock of what was going on around them. Of course, she couldn't have been more than five years old.  
  
"He's still back at our house, probably in his lab working on figuring this out." Buttercup replied. "What about Blossom and Boomer? Where did they go?" All she got was a pair of blank looks in response.  
  
"The last time we saw them they were running from those things." Bubbles sounded even more worried now than she had before. "I think they were heading for the center of Townsville."  
  
"We have to go after them and find them!" Buttercup decided.  
  
"Hold on hold on." Brick demanded. "You shouldn't even be out here Buttercup, not in your condition!" He glared at her like a parent chiding an errant child. "There are a lot of things that could happen to you out here, to you AND to our kid."  
  
"I'm not even past the first month, I can still fight!" Buttercup retorted. "Besides unless you plan to force me to go back I'm going to look for them with or without you. If you're so damn worried then come help me out, just don't get in my way." With that she whirled and streaked off again through the buildings.  
  
"Hey wait! Damnit!" Brick exclaimed. "Come on Bubbles, we have to follow her!" He streaked off after his wife with Bubbles right behind him, still carrying the shocked kid in her arms. No matter how far along she was she was still pregnant, and there was no telling what could set off her hormones and send her into a very self-destructive berserker mode.  
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The soft rustling of the branches around them sounded like sirens to the pair of superheroes still hiding out from their pursuers. Their super-senses and the adrenaline that still pumped through them made even a crickets chirp sound like an alarm to run away from. Past it all they could hear the steady breathing of the creatures that were still hunting them. There were only half a dozen or so now, but these things were strong and there was only two of them.  
  
"We can't stay here much longer... we have to get out." Blossom whispered to her companion, using her x-ray vision to peer through the foliage at one of the creatures on the ground.  
  
"Think we can outrun them?" Boomer asked.  
  
"I don't think we have much choice... if we can find the others we should all be able to handle them..." Blossom looked down and took a deep breath to steady herself. "On the count of three, we go..." She closed her eyes and took his hand. "One... two... THREE!" They both streaked through the branches like they weren't even there, ripping through the woods without caring that they were carving a nice hole right through the entire forest.  
  
They could hear the creatures screeches following behind them, at least half a dozen surging through the leaves beneath them. Again the foliage slowed them down enough to fall a bit behind, but they knew the moment they cleared the woods they would be easy prey.  
  
They streaked out of the dark forest and streaked into the graying sky to try to lose their attackers, but they surged from the woods on dark wings, following behind them without missing a beat. Blossom looked back and saw several opening their mouths with pearl lights forming.  
  
"Move it!" She grabbed Boomer and dragged him down with her as she took a dive, avoiding the lights and streaking toward the city. Several more beams of light flew past them, but they dodged through the air on their way to the street, pulling up just before they slammed into it. The shadows turned easily in the air to pursue.  
  
"Over there!" Boomer shouted, pointing down an alley the second they passed by. Blossom nodded and turned straight up, flying over the building in a sheet of white light from the shadows and flying over a building, coming down the other side. They could see Brick, Bubbles and Buttercup walking along the street cautiously.  
  
"Heads up!" Boomer shouted as loud as he could. The others looked back, their eyes widening when they saw the shadows. In a flash Buttercup and Brick streaked up to them, leaving only Bubbles on the ground holding something cradled in her arms.  
  
"Let's finish them!" Blossom halted and whirled almost in the same instant, her foot catching one shadow when it tried to attack. The shadows were caught off guard by the sudden offensive from the four super-powered opponents, and several went down in the first minute of combat.  
  
Still others fought on, clawing and firing pearl white beams at the puffs and ruffs as they tried to land blows hard enough to do any damage. They moved too fast for Blossom's ice breath to pin down and Brick's teleportation only helped him avoid them. They fought to a standstill for several more minutes until one spotted Bubbles on the ground and turned toward her, opening its jaws with a bright pearl light appearing between them.  
  
"Bubbles! Look out!" Blossom only managed to shout a warning before the light fired toward the unsuspecting puff. She looked up in surprise and saw the light coming down on her, but with the burden of the thing in her arms she couldn't move fast enough to avoid it.  
  
"Bubbles!" Brick's body faded into crimson as he began to teleport, but Bubbles' eyes pulsed bright red and she opened her mouth in a desperate attempt to counter the beam. The crimson shockwave that held so much power in the past surged forth in front of her. The power collided with the beam just a few feet above her head, and they began to vie for dominance, the crimson and pearl lights swirling and surging.  
  
For a moment it appeared the crimson wave would win out, but the entire ball of energy exploded in a dazzling ray of light, surging outward in a flash of brilliant, indescribable color. Even the shadows had no time to react before the wave encompassed them all. The light was blinding, flowing in a myriad of infinite colors and infinitely more possibilities. For a moment, time just stopped flowing for everyone, as they were pulled into the center of the light, helpless to fight against it.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	5. 405- Eternal Voyage

405- Eternal Voyage  
  
  
Several groans sounded through the unknown space, groans of pain and confusion as five little kids pushed themselves up on all four limbs. They remembered only fighting with the shadows, and the beams had collided and then... nothing. Despite their pain and confusion though, a single glance upward told them where they were. The infinite, swirling colors of Eternity burned as brightly as ever, but now they seemed more sporadic, colliding and destroying themselves as they'd never done before.  
  
"What... what's going on?" Blossom sat up in a hurry and looked out over the swirling void. They were floating on a small mass of land, but there was nothing else out there. If she remembered correctly, these pieces of land moved when one walked, so they could still look for other places.  
  
"This looks like... oh my God, are we dead?" Bubbles asked, still clutching the little girl to her even in her confused state. The girl still didn't move or respond to anything, lying limp in her arms. They would have thought her dead if she wasn't still breathing.  
  
"It didn't feel like we were killed, just transported." Boomer replied, standing up and brushing himself off. "Blast must have torn a hole in the dimension, nice attack you got there Bubbles."  
  
"Sorry..." Bubbles frowned and looked down at the ground.  
  
"Stop it Boomer." Blossom demanded with a cold, hard gaze. "You don't need to take it out on Bubbles, she was just protecting herself. Now... if we're here we should try to find the Lords of Eternity, they could take us home and maybe tell us just what is going on here."  
  
"So let's get going, no use just sitting here talking about doing something." Buttercup turned and started to walk toward the edge of the island, but it didn't move with her. She stopped at the edge just before she stepped out onto nothing. "Hey what... isn't this thing supposed to move?"  
  
Blossom got up and walked over to the edge, putting one hand down to feel the side of the island. "It doesn't look like it's working right now, whatever's making everything go nuts must even be affecting here."  
  
"So we're stuck here?" Bubbles asked in dismay.  
  
Buttercup floated up a few feet off the island. "Hah, we can fly remember? Let's just get going, who needs some dumb old island anyway." A few feet from the island one of the swirls of color burst in a dazzling array of light. The force of the blast sent all five of them to the ground heavily, groaning as they pushed back up.  
  
"Somehow... I don't think that's the best idea in the world." Blossom muttered under her breath, plopping down on the ground. "It doesn't seem like the explosions will happen on the island itself, so we should just wait here. Won't be able to do anyone any good if we get blown up trying to get out of here."  
  
"Rrgh." Buttercup threw herself on her back on the ground, glaring up at the colors in the sky accusingly. Blossom really couldn't blame her sister for her frustration, she was feeling a bit of it herself. Patience often yielded better rewards however than simply trying to rush everywhere, it was better for them to survive to save everyone else, than to die trying.  
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Shrill screams rang through the dark day, sounding out like a beacon calling for the pain to end. Some were the screams of men, women, and children crying out against the ravages of their attackers, both against themselves and the world around them. In the midst of it all however, was two screams sounding in unison, a scream of new life rather than death. Amid the destruction of the world around them, a single new life was being brought into the world, new yet wizened beyond any other living thing.  
  
Buttercup screamed in pain and clutched Eric's hand, sweating with her eyes clenched tightly shut. The boy... or man depending on how one counted it... held her hand fast and watched in awe at the scene that was taking place. Bluebell and Elibell watched from across the room, looking too scared and panicked to get too close for fear of interrupting.  
  
"Come on Buttercup, just a little more." Mrs. Porcelain said in a firm, yet somehow soothing tone of voice from down by her legs. Buttercup howled in pain and rage, threatening to tear Eric's arm right out of his shoulder with a grip of iron.  
  
Finally after what seemed like an endless struggle she felt the pressure being removed from her body, pushed out through the birth canal. She fell limp on the coffee table, sweating and panting and staring up at the ceiling in a haze of pain. It gradually faded though, and she expected to hear the cries of a newborn infant in the air. However, she heard nothing.  
  
She looked down at Mrs. Porcelain and saw her holding the tiny baby in her arms. It was breathing and moving slightly, but it didn't cry out or open its eyes. It lay there calmly, content just to be out of the womb for now. Silence prevailed in the room, almost reverent in the serenity that came over them all with the chaos reigning just outside the building.  
  
"It's about time." Everyone turned toward the door to see a much bigger figure standing there, dark red wings stretched behind him and dark red eyes watching them. "I was wondering when you would be joining us again, it would seem you were right, as usual." Boston's mouth smirked with the irony. Everyone else looked down at the child, who gave no response.  
  
"Boston..." Buttercup muttered under her breath. The last time she had seen him he was doing battle with Him, though it had been like he was hardly the kid she'd gone along to protect.  
  
"Once upon a time, my lady." Boston smirked again and looked down at the child again. "Well what are you waiting for? Give the child to his mother." He commanded with an irritable wave of his hand. Mrs. Porcelain looked down at the kid and stood up, walking around to the top of the table. She lowered the sleeping infant into Buttercup's arms.  
  
"What... what's..." Buttercup closed her eyes and arched her head back when the child touched her. A soft white light spread through her body, flowing through every nerve and vein. Boston crossed his arms over his chest while the others watched curiously. In a moment the light faded, leaving her lying on the table in a deep, peaceful slumber.  
  
"Buttercup? Are you okay?" Eric's voice shook slightly, though not from fear. The aura of serenity was still emanating from the sleeping child, but from sheer wonder. They waited in silence until her eyes began to open, pulsing with an inner light. The irises and pupils were gone, drowned under a sea of light that surged brightly. Nobody could say anything, what could they possibly say?  
  
"Hey." Boston told her with yet another mirthful smirk. The others looked up at him like he was completely insane. What could they possibly do now... how could they talk to him?  
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Buttercup's angry grumbling was the only sound they could hear apart from the occasional eruption of the lights outside the islands proximity. The silence was filled with mixed emotions, fear, despair, anger, even a tinge of hatred at their own helplessness. There was simply nothing they could do from here, they needed to get out of there, but they had no way to do that either.  
  
Bubbles looked down at the girl in her arms with that same worried gaze she'd had for the past half-hour. She didn't respond to anything they did, she just lay there on the ground like she'd given up all hope, her fragile heart broken by the suddenness of their entire world being turned upside down.  
  
"Please get better... come on." Bubbles pleaded softly with the girl. She hadn't even known her before today, she didn't even know the girls' name, but still she hated to see anyone look like this. So devoid of spirit or life, it tore her up to see anyone so down, especially such an innocent looking thing...  
  
"God if we could just move..." Boomer muttered, closing his eyes with a soft sigh. For a moment nothing happened, but soon the small island gave a jerk and started off to one side, jerking everyone on it off-balance.  
  
"Whoa! We're moving!" Brick exclaimed.  
  
"Boomer! We're moving!" Blossom reached down to rouse Boomer from his apparent rest. He jerked into wakefulness, looking up at her. The island jerked to a sudden stop again, nearly sending Buttercup tumbling right over the edge into the dazzling lights.  
  
"Will it stop doing that!?" Buttercup demanded, angry that she'd been caught off guard twice in a row.  
  
"What's going on? Moving?" Boomer looked around, having missed whatever it was.  
  
"We were moving a second ago, just before you woke up." Bubbles said.  
  
"I smell something fishy here..." Buttercup commented. "And for once it's not Brick's aftershave." She turned to glare directly at Boomer.  
  
"What are you talking about?" Boomer asked.  
  
"Boomer... try to make the island move, just make it happen." Blossom said more gently. Boomer gave her a questioning look, getting an answer without even having to ask. "Just kind of will it, think of it, I don't know whatever." She amended herself.  
  
"Well alright... not sure exactly what you're expecting though." Boomer walked up to the edge of the island and closed his eyes, putting his hands in front of him. "Move... that way... go, come on now..." He made various clicking noises to try to get the land mass to respond.  
  
"For Christ's sakes it's a thing not a dog, just THINK it! And shut up, you're irritating!" Buttercup howled. Boomer glared back at her, but knew better than to fight with a pregnant woman, so he turned back to the island edge. He closed his eyes, trying to think of it moving, going somewhere, maybe to the Eternal palace he knew was at the center of this place.  
  
"Hey... hey it's working!" Bubbles shouted excitedly. "We're going somewhere! I didn't know you knew how to move this thing Boomer!"  
  
"I didn't..." Boomer looked down at the island beneath him, dumbfounded. "How AM I doing this?"  
  
"It must be your personal power... all of ours have already manifested, my ice-breath, Bubbles' sonics, Buttercup's projections, Brick's teleportation... yours must be telekinesis." Blossom concluded in a very matter-of-fact tone of voice. She also managed to perfectly mimic the tone the Professor used when making a big discovery.  
  
"Telewhathekiss?" Bubbles asked blankly.  
  
"Telekinesis, he can move things with his mind without touching them." Brick amended her.  
  
"Oh... like Lance Burton!" Bubbles realized with a grin. "Okay I got it!"  
  
"Right... exactly like Lance Burton..." Buttercup remarked in a monotone voice.  
  
"Well I think we're on our way to the Eternal Temple, that's what I was thinking of when it started moving." Boomer told the others.  
  
"Great, I knew you had to come in handy sooner or later." Buttercup nodded.  
  
"Buttercup!" Blossom chided.  
  
"Whaaat?" The brunette puff shot back in exasperation. Boomer just sighed and looked back outside the island while blossom shook her head angrily. He didn't mind, she had been exceptionally moody for the last couple of weeks, and most of what she said she wasn't really serious about. At least they were on their way, no matter what means hey used to move around.  
________________________________________________________________________________  
  
"All our power, all our wisdom, all our experience... and we've been caught off guard so badly... rendered so completely helpless." Deliah's voice wavered while she watched the flickering image in front of her. Before her very eyes the world began to crumble, torn apart under its own weight due to forces they couldn't identify. "Our fathers would never have allowed this to happen... whatever it is... we've failed..."  
  
"Not yet... we still have a little bit of time... the circle should be completing very soon. We can't monitor the world anymore because of the interference, but I have a feeling if the time is right, circumstances we tried to prevent may yet prove to be our salvation." Damien replied, his gaze never wavering from the image before him. "If you think about it... the timing is almost too good."  
  
"What do you mean, love?" Deliah asked.  
  
"The lords of the old Eternity are being reborn perhaps even as we speak, at the very same time they may serve to safe us all. I never believed fate could hold sway over the ones who led the world... but what else could it be?" He looked over into the gentle eyes of his lover, the woman he'd been with since the very beginning of his very long life.  
  
"I... don't know... all I know is that their knowledge is the only chance we have..." Deliah replied, looking up into his eyes. Even they could do nothing against this, they didn't even know what it was that was causing it. All they could do was wait for the one who knew everything.  
________________________________________________________________________________  
  
They still watched in awe while Buttercup walked over to the window, still holding the tiny, bundled form in her arms. Her eyes pulled with the bright white light, teeming with untold knowledge of answers to things they couldn't even begin to ask. Finally Elibell gulped and took one step forward, her hands shaking.  
  
"You're... God?" she asked.  
  
"The world is collapsing, the imagination that sustains it is crumbling." Buttercup spoke in a deep voice, though it was still vaguely recognizable as her own. She turned to look back at Eli with a gentle gaze. "Yes, in a sense I am, but am I what you think of me, I am not." She replied to the question. "Create you I did, create the universe, I did not."  
  
"Wait wait... I thought only like, you know, virgins and stuff could give birth to God, you know like the virgin Mary." Mrs. Porcelain exclaimed.  
  
"The birth of my son required a virgin pure, that is true, because one so pure has life force unmatched. My own revival however could only be brought about by beings of even greater power, but I cannot be born from immortals." Buttercup's head turned to look over at Eric in the corner, staring wide-eyed at her. "Eternal mortals, with the power to stand my energy, and the mortality to give me my soul back."  
  
"I... I see..." Mrs. Porcelain took a few steps back then, looking as awestruck as ever. Boston took the opportunity to approach Buttercup.  
  
"It's been many a year, old man." Boston grinned and put one clawed hand out. "Or should I say, baby?" He looked down at the tiny bundle with a wry grin on his face.  
  
"Indeed it has, kiddo." Buttercup replied, taking it in a warm handshake like they were old buddies instead of the very embodiments of good and evil respectively.  
  
"Wh... what on Earth is this?" Eric demanded, turning to glare at Boston. "Shouldn't you be announcing your diabolical plans to destroy the planet in the name of pure evil!?" He turned to glare at Buttercup now. "And shouldn't you be saying something holy and comforting in the vein that you're going to stop him and protect the world at any cost?"  
  
"Why would I want to destroy the world? It's practically destroyed as it is if you bother to look outside." Boston waved his hand at the window. Just outside there were sheets of smoke rising from various destroyed buildings. "You people really do take things too literally. We oppose each other, that's true, but we're not enemies just because we're good and evil."  
  
"Any more than man and woman are enemies for what they are." Buttercup finished. "With one of us missing, the other could not act or end his own existence. That is why he could not act until I was reborn." She looked over at Boston with a meaningful glance.  
  
"Speaking of ending existence, old friend. You know what is causing all of this, don't you? It has something to do with Pandora, what is it exactly?" Boston asked.  
  
"Speaking it here would be pointless, we should make our way to our children's realm." Buttercup replied. "Eternity, once there we can wait for those who can make the journey to fix the cause of this..." The others didn't even need to ask who that would be, there was only one group they could think of to make this kind of journey. They would be the same as the girl who had just given birth, they only hoped they would make it that far.  
________________________________________________________________________________  
  
The small group of puffs and ruffs waited on the island, relaxing while it moved through the myriad of colors without much effort from Boomer. Apparently it didn't take much to push something through a void that had no effect of its own on it. Brick and Buttercup took advantage of the calm to sit together on one side of the land, huddled together. Blossom watched the colors idly while Boomer lay on his back, staring up at them and moving the island with his mind.  
  
Bubbles sat on the edge of the island with her legs dangling over the side, holding the paralyzed little girl up beside her. She had one arm over the girls' shoulders in a companionable gesture, laughing and pointing out random patterns in the colors like they were looking at shapes in the clouds. The girl didn't respond, remaining as dreadfully silent as ever. Still it didn't get the blond puff down too much, she wouldn't let it. If someone else was down, it was her job to perk them up.  
  
"Hey, there's a giraffe. See?" she pointed out one particular yellow spot with black dots in it. It was visible for only a moment before the colors swirled on like always. An occasional explosion sounded, but they didn't get too close to them until one exploded right in front of the island, actually blowing a chunk right off of it.  
  
"Whoa!" Bubbles leapt back with the girl in her arms, narrowly avoiding it. "What was that!? I thought the explosions couldn't get us?" She ducked as another explosion detonated only a few feet overhead.  
  
"The island's not moving on it's own, the shield must have been left behind!" Blossom shouted.  
  
"Splendid, like wearing armor without a chest-plate!" Buttercup shouted back. "What do we do now?"  
  
"What CAN we do? Fly for it!" Blossom shouted back over another explosion. "We know which way to go at least and we've been traveling for awhile, if we're lucky we can make it!" the other nodded and grouped together, taking each others hands so they don't get separated.  
  
"Come on." Bubbles said, picking up the girl and holding her flung over one shoulder while she floated over to joint he others, taking up the end of the chain since she had only one arm free.  
  
"Wait for it..." Blossom said, watching the colors around them with a sharp gaze. In a moment another explosion detonated right in front of them. "GO!" They all took off through the thick cloud of smoke that still hung around from the explosion, streaking through the myriad of colors in their own distinct light trails.  
  
Bubbles' eyes went wide when the crimson trail from Brick mingled with the colors already present, resulting in a huge explosion less than a foot away from her. She held the girl tightly despite the pain, righting herself after a few moments of free floating.  
  
"Bubbles!" Buttercup streaked down to grab her and haul her out of the way of another explosion.  
  
"Damnit, our own light trails are helping cause the explosions! We have to split up so we don't wind up blowing each other up!" Blossom shouted in a hurry. "Stay within sight of each other, but don't intersect with anyone elses light pattern!" She told the others. They nodded back and turned in the direction they were going before. "Let's do it... NOW!"  
  
The five light trails split up in five directions, flying through the sea of colors like a spread hand moving through water. Their own trails of light reacted sometimes just behind them, threatening to blow them off course or into each others backsides. Combined with the natural explosions in front of them, they had quite a time trying to avoid it all safely.  
  
Blossom stopped just before an explosion detonated right in front of her, sending her barreling back into another explosion created by her own trail. She screamed in pain as she was flung away from the area, hurtling blindly back into Boomer's own trail.  
  
"Blossom!" Boomer doubled back as fast as he could, catching her and turning away before she could be caught in another explosion. "Blossom! You okay?" He shook her worriedly. She opened her eyes, but didn't have time to respond before another blast detonated right beside them, sending them both barreling blindly through the lights.  
  
"Boomer! Hold on! Hugh!" Buttercup tried to streak over to the, but another explosion detonated right beside her, sending her too scrambling out of the way before she could be caught in the dead center.   
  
"Rrgh... hold on Blossom..." Boomer gripped Blossom tightly and clenched his eyes shut when he saw another surge beginning inches in front of his face. He sat and waited... waited... waited for several minutes.  
  
"What the hell...?" Buttercup said in awe from somewhere out there. Boomer slowly opened his eyes, looking down at blossom still held in his arms like a child. Her eyes opened along with his, having squeezed shut at the same time. They looked up together and gasped at what they saw. All of the myriad lights, the colors that represented infinite possibilities, the directions history itself could take... had stopped.  
  
"What does this mean you guys..." Bubbles' voice shook as she looked around at the frozen bits of light, like history itself had been halted right in the middle.  
  
"It... it doesn't mean anything... except we have a straight shot to the palace now... and some answers." Blossom tried to sound reassuring as she pushed herself away from Boomer, but her voice betrayed her own fear and confusion. "Come on... let's go get some answers finally." She turned to streak through the frozen lights in the direction they had been going, with the others following close behind.  
  
Without the explosions hampering them, they reached the palace in due course and flung the door open, streaking inside without caring a whit that they were barging in on the lords of everything they knew.  
  
"Alright, we want some answers and we want them now!" Blossom demanded angrily.  
  
"Yeah, we're tired of fighting in the dark against something we don't know for the life of us! What's all this about!" Brick agreed vehemently.  
  
"Ah, the Powerpuff Girls and Rowdyruff Boys... we've been waiting for you." Deliah told them with a warm smile. "Honestly we don't know... but there is someone else here who does..." She looked over into a corner, where several others were huddled among themselves. Mrs. Porcelain, Elibell, Bluebell, Whoopass Buttercup and some boy none of them recognized.  
  
"Alright guys, what's going on?" Blossom demanded.  
  
"Impatient, aren't you?" Whoopass Buttercup turned to smirk at them, facing them for the first time. They gasped when they saw her eyes pulsing with a sea of inner light, along with the tiny white bundle she held cradled in the crook of one arm. "Give me a moment, and I will explain as much as I possibly can." She told them in a deep, almost divine sounding voice. At last after fighting randomly with only hints and shadows of the truth, they would get some answers.  
  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	6. 406- The Story

(To Unknown: If you can accept the fantasy of three little girls having what would religiously be dubbed evil powers of flight, strength, and hideous bodily deformations to go along with them while still enjoying the stories that they bring, you can take a bit more fantasy in my own creation of the afterlife, Heaven, Hell, and whatever. Thank you)  
  
  
406- The Story  
  
  
Buttercup's eyes pulsed brightly as she looked around the room at the group gathered around her. She closed them and began to speak. "As some of you well know, there is an entity above us all... on a plane of existence reachable once only by myself and my counterpart. Since we were... incapacitated however nothing could stand up to him. He was the chaos that was all that existed before our initial 'birth' as it were. For many years he's kept watch over this world, amused by the peoples' petty scramblings and attempts to be more than they were, a futile effort in his mind. Because he is the reason we all exist, it was in a sense futile, though hardly without purpose."  
  
"This being... this force has a name... Pandora. He feeds off of the awesome energies of the Faeri and in turn gives it some semblance of form, a sense of purpose, which the Faeri cannot give their own power. Eons ago we were born from that chaos into a barren, dark existence with nothing to live among, it was only us. So we went behind Pandora's back, and brought order to a small section of it. The universe as you know it the product of this work, with the Earth being the focus of our attention."  
  
"For several thousand years everything ran smoothly, and the Earth began to prosper. Plants, animals, and great beasts roamed the land unhindered and uninhibited. However, that all ended when Pandora realized what had happened, and destroyed nearly all of it with a single stray comet from the stars. He forbade us from bringing order to the existence he had created... but we rebelled. Together we fought against him for the right to bring about new lives as we had been brought, to have children of our own, in essence."  
  
"The fight lasted for tens of thousands of years, leaving the Earth to whither and become a frozen wasteland with our attention drawn elsewhere. At last we realized the battle would never end, we would be fighting forever. We could not kill him, calm him, or entrap him... so we did the only thing we could... we gave him a new life inside of our world. We attacked his mind by surprise and managed to trap his memories deep inside, sending him down to live on the Earth we had been fighting to protect for so long. He lived for generation upon generation upon generation, taking the forms of every life form on the planet many times. We could not contain all of his power however so we locked it away inside of a box and thrust it into Limbo, the void of lost souls."  
  
"So time passed and we watched as one creature became the next, seemingly at random but always with a purpose, there was order now in this world we had created. Our biggest pride, was the human race. Beings with more brain capacity and comprehension ability than any other, they were incredible creatures, not powerful but still so willful. Our pride turned to fear however when Pandora took the form of a human, and some angels and demons sought to remind him of who he was. Man was the only beast capable of comprehending the truth, thus whenever he took human form, the defectors would come out."  
  
"For a long time we managed to keep them from him, until one day someone managed to reach him behind both of our backs... in a flurry of anger and power, he burst forth onto the world, destroying my old, frail body and entrapping Lucifer in a sheet of crystalline ice. His power was incomplete however, because much of it was still trapped in Pandora's Box." At this point she turned to look over squarely at Damien and Deliah, who stared back. "Damien and Deliah were children at the time, and along with a small band of mortal children, journeyed to find the box and use it to trap Pandora inside. Over time the box had been infused with the power of chaos, making it powerful enough to hold him if they got to it first."  
  
"They did it, they got the box and trapped Pandora inside. That was when Damien and Deliah took the throne of power and made the world their own. For an entire eon they sat on the throne until someone found the box again and it was burst open. Pandora surged forth with full power and in an instant it was all gone... but after living, and seeing our world, Pandora grew bored with his own predictable chaos. He brought it back with none being the wiser, and it has remained thus... until today."  
  
"That's... that's incredible..." Mrs. Porcelain whispered in awe under her breath.  
  
"So... what does all this have to do with what's happening now?" Blossom demanded, a bit confused by the roundabout answer to a simple question.  
  
"You had to know that for the answer to make sense... you see... Pandora is dying." Buttercup's head turned around to survey the stunned expressions everyone else wore, even Boston's eyes had one extremely wide. "It's ironic really..." Buttercup continued, walking over to the window to stare outside with her hands behind her back. "That his death throes have been so closely mimicking those of mortals..."  
  
"What do you mean mimicking those of mortals? We haven't seen anything like that." Brick asked.  
  
"Haven't you? The heart palpitations..." She paused a moment to let them think, conjuring up the memory of the energy waves that had surged through the world so many times in pairs.  
  
"The loss of coherence, the malfunctioning of even simple processes in the mind." This one conjured up memories of the clouds flowing against each other, solid objects sinking into nothing, the color patterns in Eternity flowing into each other where before they flowed around each other perfectly... like a mind losing it's grip on what should be.  
  
"And finally... the mind completely ceasing to function." The colors in Eternity stopping dead in their tracks, brain cells that no longer could serve a purpose.  
  
"So... he's already dead?" Boston asked, his voice wavering somewhat. This only helped alarm the others since, they knew who he really was.  
  
"Not quite, if he were we wouldn't be here to worry about it... we still have a little bit of time, though it's running out very fast." She turned to stare at the tiny heroes with a gentle stare. "I need to ask a favor of you... I know where the problem lies, but I don't know what the problem is and I cannot go there in my... weakened state." She looked down at the bundle in her arms meaningfully.  
  
"You don't know? You're God aren't you? I thought you knew everything!" Bluebell exclaimed.  
  
"The problem, young one, goes above even Pandora this time..." The white eyed figured turned slowly, looking up and down each Powerpuff and Rowdyruff. "Something has caused a backlash in the Faeri's power that flows into this plain... it's too small for us to feel, but Pandora requires such vast amounts of power that even the slightest disruption could prove fatal... indeed... is proving fatal."  
  
"So we... we have to go to... the Faeri's realm?" Bubbles' voice broke at the end of her question.  
  
"Truly... normally I would go myself, but as I said before, my weakened state will not allow it." The Whoopass Girl said. "Of course... it is up to you whether you will go or not. You can always go home, and hope against hope that everything will turn out for the better on its own."  
  
"We don't even need time to think do we guys?" Blossom looked back at the others, who grinned and nodded back almost eagerly. "We never sit by and watch stuff happen, we make things come out our way." She told the white-eyed figure with a grin of her own. She looked over in surprise though when Bubbles pushed past, still holding the little girl in her arms.  
  
"Please... keep an eye on her will you? She's been really hurt or something... and I don't want to take her in there." Bubbles held the girl out cradled in her arms. Buttercup smiled warmly and nodded over to Boston, who approached to gently take the girl from her.  
  
"You... have the purest heart I've seen... in so many millennia." Buttercup held one hand out to gently touch Bubbles' forehead. The blond Powerpuff looked up in confusion for a moment, crossing her eyes to stare at the hand on her head, then back down at her. "Keep it safe young one... minds like yours are a rare breed indeed, and are to be cherished."  
  
"O... okay..." Bubbles replied with a shaking voice. She stood there for a moment, staring into the deep, white eyes before she took a few steps back to rejoin her sisters.  
  
"Are we ready to go?" Blossom asked.  
  
"I'm going with you." Bluebell took a few steps over to them, but Eli grabbed her arm quickly.  
  
"Blue, what are you doing?" Eli asked worriedly. "You don't have to go, stay here..."  
  
"Hey... come on, I know I don't have to go..." Bluebell floating up and reached one hand out to put it on her friends shoulder in a comforting gesture, smiling back into her worried eyes. "I want to go... it's my decision." The others watched in silence while the bigger girl just stared back, then finally sighed and nodded in defeat.  
  
"I'll be back as soon as this is done, after all, it's not like I want existence to end, then I wouldn't have anywhere to live." She winked playfully at her friend, prompting a small smile from the much bigger girl. With a deep breath to steel herself Bluebell turned back to the others and stood by the five ruffs and puffs.  
  
"Six tiny titans..." Whoopass Buttercup's form said with a small smile on her lips. "Curious... even with one gone, the force remains the same... hmm..." She looked each of them up and down with a gentle gaze, not judging, but gauging each one. "Are you all ready, once inside I will not be able to bring you back, but if you succeed, I suspect you will find your own way back. If not... there won't be anything for you to return to anyway."  
  
"We understand." Blossom turned to look over the rest of the tiny heroes behind her, noting with some satisfaction that they all wore the same determined expression as her instead of showing fear or reluctance. "Yes... we're ready to go." She turned to face the deity again, taking a deep breath and letting it out.  
  
"Very well... safe journey." Buttercup raised one hand in front of her with Boston mimicking her movements beside her. Flashed of pure black and white power flowed from each of their hands, surging through the air to coalesce in front of the Powerpuffs and Rowdyruffs. Tendrils of power lanced into the energy, creating holes barely big enough for a child to crawl through, but more than big enough for the very small Powerpuffs.  
  
"Good luck." Deliah called from the throne behind Buttercup and Boston. "To all of us."  
  
"We won't let you down..." Blossom swore, looking into the portal in front of her. It looked like little more than a hole in the space in front of them, though wispy tendrils of energy seeped through, brushing against them. Even those little trace contacts invigorated them more than anything they'd ever felt before. "Come on guys... it's time to end all of this." She reached her hands back and clasped two hands at random, listening as more hands clasped until they were all connected. Finally she started forward, walking into the portal.  
  
She gasped the instant she stepped inside, feeling the sheer power surging through her body, tearing it part from the inside out. At first she was scared, but then she felt her body melt away like a speck of dust, shrugged off by the sheer energy that now flowed through... whatever was left. Her soul perhaps? Or was it just... 'Blossom'?  
  
~What on Earth could... this be?~ Bubbles' voice said somehow, though she heard no sound. It was almost like a thought flowing from one mind to another, but something different. There were no senses, not even any thoughts here, things just were, there was no other ay to describe it.  
  
~Okay, I'm ready to go back home now.~ Bluebell's 'voice' wavered somewhat as she spoke. Blossom didn't know how she could tell the two apart since they were, by all accounts, identical. She didn't know how to explain anything here.  
  
~It's too late for that. We've come this far, nowhere to go but forward... however we do that.~ Blossom replied, still unsure how she was doing that. It just happened when she wanted it to... maybe that was the key here? There were no lips to speak with, no ears to hear with, no mind to think with... could this be pure force of will?  
  
~We don't even know WHAT we are now! How are we supposed to know what to look for?~ Buttercup shouted angrily, though her sending was laced with dozens of other emotions.  
  
~Yeah, we can't move, look around, or even see each other.~ Boomer agreed.  
  
Blossom thought about turning around, seeing the other behind her, represented by their own body shapes. As she'd hoped she turned, to see the others floating in the darkness. They were mere outlines of themselves though, pulsing with a pure white light. ~Yes we can, just will yourselves to see each other, this place seems to work through WILL, you have to WANT to do things.~ She waited for a bit, the shapes in front of her didn't move but obviously they were getting it.  
  
~Hey... Blossom there you are!~ Boomer exclaimed happily.  
  
~Force of will huh... well I just want us to find the problem and get out of here.~ Buttercup said.  
  
~Yeah, this is new, but I think I prefer having skin and eyes and arms and legs and feet and hair...~ Bubbles agreed.  
  
~Guys... what are you doing here?~ Even those puffs who hadn't quite got the hang of it 'turned' to see a very familiar outline floating behind them, silhouetted eerily in the darkness behind him. He watched them, looking more animated than the others had, perhaps because he had been here longer. Blossom couldn't imagine how he'd gotten here however...  
  
~Butch...~ Brick spoke for the first time since they'd crossed into the Faeri realm. ~What on Earth are you... what're you doing here? How the HELL did you get here?~  
  
~Seems I got caught up in something when I was forcefully run from my second body... wound up here... somehow.~ Butch replied. If they could see, Blossom go the feeling he would be smiling. ~It's nice to see you guys again.~ He said.  
  
~Yeah you too... You have no idea how much I've wanted to find you somewhere... God I'd hug you if I had arms.~ Brick said. Butch laughed at that, his spectral form moving with his laughter in a way Blossom couldn't figure out.  
  
~Yeah it does take some getting used to this... nothing trivial here, just you doing whatever you truly want...~ Butch's voice trailed off as he looked over the six of them. ~Anyway, again, what are you guys doing here?~ Butch asked again, gazing at them.  
  
~Butch... something's happening on Earth, everything's crumbling... we came here to find out how to stop it. We have no idea where to even start though...~ Blossom replied. Butch looked away from them for a moment, looking into some distance they couldn't see.  
  
~They say my presence here has upset the balance of their power... power's being sent through me instead of flowing through Pandora... that's why his body can't handle it anymore. The flow has been dimmed slightly.~ Butch replied, smirking apologetically. ~Seems I screw something up no matter where I go, our lives, Brick's wedding, and now the whole damn planet...~  
  
~It's not your fault bro...~ Brick began, but Bluebell interrupted him.  
  
~Wait a minute... "they say"? You mean the Faeri? Could we see them and ask how to fix this?~ Bluebell asked.  
  
~They're right here... they're everywhere here.~ Butch told them seriously. ~You're just not seeing them.~  
  
~How DO we see them then, wiseass?~ Buttercup asked.  
  
~You just... see them. Want to see them and you will, just work on it, you'll get it.~ He waited while everyone tried to do whatever they could to make something happen, but nothing did. The darkness remained, or rather the nothingness did. Finally however a few small dots appeared in Blossom's vision, only for more and more to appear until she was almost blinded by the number of them. She stared in awe at the swirling forms, each one glittering as brightly as a star and moving like a living thing.  
  
~Oh wow... they're beautiful...~ Bubbles whispered in awe.  
  
~They're... moving like children exploring a new house...~ Blossom noted in similar awe.  
  
~Yeah, they are kinda like children... not a care in the world, but that doesn't mean they're not smart.~ Butch told them.  
  
~Well then ask them how to fix our world... ask how to help Pandora and our world survive.~ Buttercup demanded. Blossom was kind of irritated at her sisters' direct approach, but she remembered they were on a strict time limit and couldn't afford to waste it watching glittering lights. For a few moments Butch said nothing, focusing on the glittering shapes in front of him.  
  
~They say Pandora's beyond saving now... but Earth can be salvaged. They say... if you kill Pandora before his energy runs dry, you can take it and rebuild everything you've lost... take his place, in essence.~ Butch told them.  
  
~Kill him? We're into saving people, not killing them.~ Blossom said, shocked.  
  
~Think of it as a mercy killing... if Pandora can feel pain, he's feeling plenty of it now.~ Butch told her. ~His mind is unfocused, he can't concentrate so he probably won't even see you until right before you finish him... but... that doesn't mean it'll be easy. For all the chaos as far out as earth, it'll be a thousand fold within his proximity.~  
  
~But wait... if one of us takes his place then we couldn't...~ Bubbles began, trailing off as she realized what that meant.  
  
~Whoever took his place could never go home...~ Bluebell finished for her, her own voice shaking from fear.  
  
~Who would stay up here?~ Boomer asked.  
  
~We'll... jump that hurdle when we come to it...~ Blossom told them, trying to take their minds off of what was now inevitable. Six came on this journey to save their very existence... but only five would be going back home. ~First thing's first... we have to find out where he is and... take away his suffering.~ She told them, trying to sound more confident than she felt.  
  
~Finding him is the easy part, the Faeri realm can take you anywhere you want instantly... it's getting close and finishing it that'll be the trick... but I don't think you'll be able to do it until you're able to function here.~ Butch reminded them. ~You should take some time, figure out how to move here like you would at home.~  
  
~We don't have time.~ Blossom reminded him.  
  
~Then you'll fail.~ Butch's voice left no room for doubting that one, simple statement. ~Besides... I think we have a little bit to catch up on...~ Butch's spectral head turned to look at Brick without hesitation. Brick's form remained as motionless as ever, but she could practically see the thoughts churning in his head.  
  
~Alright... we'll take an hour to figure out how to move here... then we're off.~ Blossom conceded finally, sighing at herself mentally as she turned to move a bit away from the group. She tried to experiment on moving her arms and legs, but even moving one at a time required precise thinking and moving both arms seemed to be a futile task.  
  
~Penny for your thoughts.~ Blossom's head turned almost of its own accord at the sound of Boomer's voice right behind her, though she didn't take note of this since she was used to it in her body.  
  
~Just trying to think... someone has to stay all the way up here, never able to go back home... how could I ask someone to do that...~ Blossom replied.  
  
~You're not, Blossom. Just because you're the leader doesn't mean everyone's just doing what you say. We're all fighting to save the world here...~ Boomer reminded her with a comforting smile, the first expression she'd seen on him since they'd come to the Faeri realm. ~Besides, it's not like they'll be dead.~  
  
~Still... I've made a decision... it'll be me who stays up here.~ She told him firmly, staring into his expression of dismay with a comforting smile on her face. ~As you said... it's not like I'll be dead... so it's not REALLY a self-sacrifice... just me moving out on my own...~ Despite her reassuring words her voice faltered as she spoke.  
  
~Why does it seem like it's always you who gives something up for everyone else?~ Boomer asked. It was more of a rhetorical question, but still Blossom searched her mind for the answer. None was forthcoming, she could think of no way to respond to that. Finally she just closed her 'eyes', blocking out the sight of Boomer and the Faeri and leaned against him, as she had so many times in the past.  
  
~I guess I'm just... a wave protecting an ocean... after all...~ She whispered into his ear, though how she managed to do that outside of her physical body was another question in itself. Boomer didn't respond, couldn't respond. They just stayed there, holding each other for some semblance of comfort despite what they knew had to happen.  
________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Brick's mind was afloat with thoughts and guilt that would have eaten at his stomach if he still had one. When the others scattered to try to experiment with themselves he moved up to Butch, looking him in the eyes guiltily.  
  
~Dude, look... I'm sorry... this is all my fault, I know...~ Brick said, bowing his head in shame.  
  
~What are you talking about?~ Butch asked.  
  
~If I had never tried to bring you back because of some stupid whim... you would never have been killed again, you would have never been trapped here... I caused all of this...~ Brick confessed. Butch's gaze softened and he reached one hand out to touch it against his brother's shoulder in a comforting gesture.  
  
~Don't worry about it, really I'm happier here than I ever was on Earth or in Eternity. As for what's happening to the world... well you had no way of knowing what one remote possibility was. If you want to go into placing blame, it's my fault too for letting myself be swept up by that stray energy wave.~ Butch told him with a soft 'voice', quite unlike how he'd been before his death.  
  
~Still... Buttercup tried to warn me... I told her there was no way I could put the world in danger just by doing that...~ He scoffed at himself. ~God why do I always wind up making myself look like an idiot... acting so stupid...~  
  
~Hmmm... well it's not like it matters how or why things are this way, won't change the fact that they ARE this way. Besides, I think there's someone who would appreciate your speech a lot more than me.~ Butch turned to point over at Buttercup, who was looking down at herself with her arms and legs moving spastically, though they were actually moving now.  
  
~Buttercup...~ Brick sighed. ~You know Butch... I think I've made a decision... I'm going to replace Pandora...~ He said, looking back over at his deceased brother.  
  
~Yeah? What brought this on?~ Butch asked.  
  
~Down there there's little I can do for her, let's face it I've never exactly been the perfect guardian, boyfriend, or husband. She's been in grave danger more times than I can remember... I think I could protect her better from up here...~ Brick confided in his brother, staring at Buttercup as her movements became more precise and fluid by the moment.  
  
~Are you kidding? With Pandora's power, you could reshape the entire universe to revolve around her... but you know, Blossom won't agree with your reasoning no matter how romantic. She'll say...~ At this point Butch's 'voice' shifted to sound exactly like Blossom's. ~It's too big of a responsibility for you to take up because you have to protect everyone, not just her.~ Brick laughed and smiled at his brother.  
  
~Yeah I can see that happening... I'll think of some way to convince her when the time comes, and if not... there are other ways to take it...~ Brick's voice trailed off into thoughts he didn't want to share with the others, or put into action. He knew he might have to however... but he would do anything to keep Buttercup safe, even if it meant going against the other Powerpuffs.  
________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Finally the appointed hour passed and the Puffs and Ruffs met once again where they had designated as their leaving point. Butch floated to the side to bid them farewell while Blossom turned to look over each of the others one by one. They all looked determined and set on their path, they all knew what would happen soon. It would not be as easy as fighting Him or foiling Mojo... but they would not quit until the Earth was safe again.  
  
~All right guys...~ Blossom looked over each of them and began to speak. ~This is it... sink or swim time... if we fail this time there won't be any comebacks, no second chances. We have to do this together, it's the only possible way we can get through the barriers we'll run into... whatever form they take. Even when we do it, we have a hard decision to make... but we'll make it, because everyone is depending on us. We won't let them down...~  
  
~Just shut up and let's go get the poor sucker~~ Buttercup exclaimed, prompting chuckles from a few others, including Blossom.  
  
~Okay.~ Blossom turned to stare in the direction Butch had told them Pandora would lay. ~One more time guys and girls, all or nothing. Let's do it!~ As one they all tore through the almost liquid like space that was the Faeri realm, the plain above even death. Their power was greater than it had ever been thanks to their proximity to the Faeri, but they knew what they would face would be a billion times anything they felt... but they would not give up or back down. This WAS it, the end was approaching... and they were ready.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	7. 407- Faith

407- Faith

Traveling through this insubstantial realm was a new, and odd experience for the six heroes as they streaked through as fast as they could, picturing the creator of everything as vividly as they could. They weren't traveling in space so much as they were moving in energy, like they were passing through lines of power that lit up Townsville and the entire world. This was far more power than those could ever carry however. They could feel the power surging around them more violently by the moment as they began to approach their target.

A steady roar of power flooded into their minds, nearly driving them mad from the sheer intensity. Blossom squeezed her hands over her ears to shut out the 'noise', looking around at the power surging even more violently.

We're not even halfway there yet and we can barely get through this! Buttercup shouted out, unhindered by the noise flowing over them since they didn't speak with their voices.

Suck it up guys, we can't give up, never! Blossom shouted back at them. A moment later though she was blown to the side by a stray force of power.

Blossom! Look out! Boomer's voice rang clearly through her mind. She looked up and darted back to the others just in the to avoid one pulsing blue band of energy. She whirled once she was clear to face the beam of energy, which surged and expanded beyond what it had been before. The whirling energy pulsed brightly and a pair of dark holes opened while the long, almost dragonlike mouth gave a roar that surged through the spectral puffs before the head vanished into the darkness again.

Something tells me someone doesn't want us here. Bluebell noted with a grim tone in her 'voice'. No sooner had she spoken than something swept over Blossom, pulsing in the space around her and tearing through her insubstantial body easily. She screamed in shock and pain when a slice appeared in her arm, made by the simple wind that blew over her.

Blossom! Watch it! Boomer yelled. Two more slices appeared in her stomach before he managed to streak in and get her out of there, hauling her a ways back with him away from the entity they knew was causing this. They looked down at her stomach, seeing the pulsing blue underneath the bodyless form. She looked up at the Rowdyruff Boy in surprise with her hands over her stomach.

Already... how can we possibly hope to get all the way in there? Boomer asked her with his hands on her shoulders. The others floated up beside them to make sure Blossom was okay.

We have to... it's the only hope we have left. Blossom pointed out, pushing away from him and whirling back toward the entity. One arm held her stomach while her other arm cradled the cut on her injured one. The others watched for a moment, then nodded one by one and turned to follow her, flying as fast as they could behind her. Once again the wind began to pick up, with an occasional streak of blue energy surging by and around them.

Hagh... Boomer grunted when his own body was cut into by the strange force. He tried to swerve through the gusts of power along with the rest, but they came too fast and frequently to avoid completely. He looked over when he felt Blossom flying close, grabbing his arm to help pull him along, at the same time letting him help her along.

Whoa! Watch it! Bubbles' shriek rang through their minds as the pair looked up to see a surging blue form towering above them. The dragon they had seen before, glaring down at them with the gaping dark holes that took the place of its eyes.

Everybody scatter! Blossom shouted, streaking back just in time to avoid the things first swipe of one giant claw. Its body convulsed and reshaped itself with every moment, like a memory fading into the back of an old persons mind. Still it was big enough and powerful enough to tear them apart if it got close enough.

It whirled to take off after Bubbles, it's jaws snapping shut right behind her heels while she struggled to keep out of its reach. The others flew in to attack while it was distracted, but their attacks had no discernable effect at all on the creature.

Great we can't even fight it! Buttercup shouted in frustration. If we can't fight a damn underling how are we supposed to take on the big guy huh? She demanded, flying in to try to at least distract the thing so Bubbles could get away. Blossom's thoughts caught in her mind, nagging at her relentlessly. There had to be something they wee missing, physical strikes were proving useless... but they weren't physical...

Of course! Blossom punched one fist into the other and turned to Boomer. Follow me!" She whirled and streaked up above the creature's head, glaring down at it and coming to a dead stop. Boomer flew up beside her and looked down at the creature still trying to get its jaws on any of the others.

What's going on Blossom? Boomer asked. Slowly Blossom closed her eyes and brought her hands together. They began to pulse with a light blue light, surging back and forth between her arms as she lifted them above her head. She thrust them forward in a moment, sendig the power hurtling down toward the creature. It slammed into it's back and a howl of pain erupted from the things throat.

It turned to glare up at her angrily as she called to the others. Guys, we've been trying to fight like we always do, but we're not physical here! Take advantage of your power! Her and Boomer ducked out of the way of another blow right before it could catch them, streaking down around to the front with the others.

Power? What are you talking about? Bubbles shouted back.

THIS power! Blossom brought her hands forward again, firing a surge of blue energy straight into the creatures face. It shook it head and opened its jaws in a roar of fury. Blossom put her arms over her face to protect herself, the cuts from the power of just the things breath tearing through her 'skin' more times than the others could count.

Blossom! Boomer streaked over to her and grabbed her, pulling her away before the creature could turn to follow him. Brick, Buttercup, Bubbles, and Bluebell all exchanged a quick glance before they too put their hand in front of them, the blue power surging forth both from within and from the power that flowed all around them. They thrust their arms forward as one, sending their power surging into the monster, more than getting its attention away from the other two.

Haha, you like that sucker? Buttercup howled with a laugh, pushing forth even more power into the monster as it whirled to face them. It's dark eyes narrowed and it turned toward them, it's entire body shuddering under the power they were pushing through it.

We're doing it! Keep it up! Brick shouted. The monster just stared at them with a steady gaze, not moving to fight back or get away, just sitting and staring at them from the depths of its almost non-existent eyes. Suddenly in a flash of blue light the thing erupted into pure energy which flew out in all directions. The mental equivalent of all-too familiar shrieks assaulted the puffs and ruffs.

No! Not them again! Bubbles yelled, streaking back as the flock of pulsing blue creatures lashed out at all of them, looking like a pack of giant bats made out of pure energy.

Watch it guys! Boomer yelled, dodging to the side just before several could manage to latch onto his leg and bring him into an entire pack of them. The others fired bolts of blue energy into the swarming mass, making several dissipate into the very air around them. Still more warmed in to take their place however, the surging mass practically moving like one living breathing thing.

We've got to get out of here. Blossom said from Boomers arms where she was still recovering from the wounds she'd suffered at the hands of the dragon. Boomer nodded and flew back away from the creatures, calling out to the others.

We have to outrun them, come on! Boomer shouted to the others before he whirled and took off in the direction of the entity they had to find, fighting against the headwind that threatened to cut into him at every moment.

Bluebell stopped in a moment and whirled around, thrusting her arms and legs forward. She gave a loud mental yell when her body surged brightly, the blue power creeping out from them to flow to all sides. The creatures slammed into the power and were halted in their tracks. They tried to turn and go around, but before they could the energy closed around them in a giant sphere.

Bluebell, what are you doing? Blossom demanded.

Get going... I've got them trapped here... Bluebell replied, grunting when several of the creatures threw themselves against the field. She pushed back to keep them in, her entire body fluctuating from the strain of holding the creatures inside the field. GO! She yelled.

We'll take him out before you get tired... we promise. Blossom told her with a slight nod. Bluebell nodded back, grunting again as the creatures continued to struggle against their imprisonment. The others turned to continue toward their objective with the wind only increasing in ferocity as they neared the very center of the disturbances. Their bodies felt like they were being torn apart from the wind, tearing scratches right through them, but still they didn't give up.

Whoa! Buttercup halted in place when a sudden burst of energy passed right in front of them with enough force to cut them in half on contact. They floated back to avoid more surges, staring into the darkness in front of them, trying to see whatever was causing this. Finally a pulsing crimson form began to appear to their site, vaguely humanlike in shape though it looked like it had no skeleton holding it in that shape.

It was bigger than anything the puffs had ever seen, though it wasn't physical mass that made this so. The sheer power that radiated from him, dwarfed anything else practically out of existence. They could even feel it's mind, frantic and confused if it was even capable of true emotions. Foremost in what they felt from him however was a sense almost related to... fear and pain.

They floated back a bit more when the thing lifted it's head to glare at them, the dark red eyes pulsing brightly in contrast with the almost faded body. Its face had no real features except for those two deep, endless eyes embedded in the front. A loud scream erupted in the heroes minds, nearly tearing them apart as the thing lifted itself upright on some invisible floor.

Its eyes bore right into them, everything they were and everything they'd done, right down to everything they didn't even know. Blossom pushed away from Boomer's grasp and floated a little closer to the creature, her eyes staying in contact with his own.

You know why we're here... please let us do what we have to... everything will end, you know that. Blossom pleaded with her hands clasped in front of her. A stray tendril of power swept through the darkness then, tearing even more wounds into her 'body', nearly covering her completely. Boomer started to go to her, but she put one hand back to stop him.

YOU KNOW I'M NOT LONG... Blossom cried out and doubled over in pain, clutching her head from the force of the thing's speech inside her mind. WHY SHOULD I FEAR FOR YOU, MERE FIGMENTS? It shuddered however as it's own power surged through it, tearing one arm right off of its body to vanish into the darkness. It clutched the stub of its arm, its eyes clenched shut.

Please... Blossom managed to call despite the pain in her head. You know you can't survive like this... but your sacrifice can save billions of lives... you don't have to take us all with you.

YOUR LIVES HAVE NO MEANING... Pandora replied, opening his eyes to stare down at the girl. IT IS BECAUSE OF YOU THAT I FIND MYSELF IN THIS STATE... I SHOULD NEVER HAVE SPARED YOU ONCE BEFORE... He accused.

Please... Blossom was crying now both from the desperation and the pain in her head from the speech of this thing. You can't blame the world for what's happened to you... we did nothing to you, it was all a giant accident. She told him.

YOUR PLANET WAS THE ACCIDENT, FIGMENT. Pandora shot back with a cold voice.

Now hold on! Buttercup jumped in front of her sister angrily. You may have been the beginning, but you are NOT the absolute! She thrust her hands out to the sides. Look at what we figments have accomplished, what we CAN accomplish! We've inadvertently destroyed even YOU, we're discovered truths and feelings that even you can't recognize!

Yeah! Bubbles jumped beside her sister. Feelings like love and happiness, you've never felt those things but we re-discover them every day of our lives! That's our own accomplishment, we may not have so much power over everything, but we have more power over ourselves than you do! This is all happening because you can't adapt, but we can, that's our own special power nobody else has. She pointed out.

WITHOUT ME, YOU ARE ALL LESS THAN DREAMS OR MEMORIES. WITHOUT ME, YOU ARE ALL NOTHING. Pandora clenched his one good fist, his eyes pulsing in anger despite his pain.

Maybe, but you can give one of us your power! Let us take over so we can save everyone else! Blossom shouted.

GIVE MY POWER TO A FIGMENT? Pandora screamed, sending all of the puffs and ruffs hurtling back from the force of his exclamation. NEVER WOULD I CONSIDER SUCH AN ACT.

Then I'm sorry... Blossom grunted and pushed herself to float toward the giant in front of her, staring into his eyes with as much determination as she'd had at the very beginning. But... we have no choice... I'd hoped you would do the right thing but... now you're the villain! She shot up straight and held one arm toward him accusingly. At the same time a blast of Pandora's own power tore into his stomach, punching a hole right through and sending him to his knees.

I WILL TAKE YOU ALL WITH ME TO OBLIVION... He raised his one remaining arm and thrust it at them. They all dodged out of the way, but the sheer power of the blow sent them all hurtling in every direction, the winds slicing through their bodies as if they were in a hail of daggers.

You can't defeat us, nothing can! Blossom brought her hands together with a surge of power, sending it flying toward the entity in front of her. The others did the same, sending their own bolts flying into their opponent. Their attacks simply glanced off of its energy however, deflected like beads of dew falling on a leaf.

YOU WANT TO FIGHT... URGH... Pandora screamed as another surge of his own power ripped through his chest, tearing another hole in him in addition to the many he already bore. He looked down at his wounds to see the power leaking from him. Fading into the space around him.

Your own power is tearing you part. Blossom told him matter-of-factly. Maybe if you help us... we can even help you stay alive as one of us... God said they made you mortal once, maybe we can do the same.

I WOULD RATHER FALL INTO OBLIVION THAN GO BACK TO THAT EXISTENCE, I STILL REMEMBER. THOUSANDS OF LIVES LIVED WITH MEANINGLESS INTENT. COUNTLESS EXISTENCES' THAT ACCOMPLISHED NOTHING, LIVING AS HELPLESS AS THE STRAY WIND THAT PASSED OVER YOUR WORLD. Pandora's voice was notable weaker now, meaning they could listen without so much pain.

Helpless maybe... sometimes... Blossom said, floating closer to him. But it won't be like before... we can make you human... give you a good life and a chance to experience what we do... happiness. Pandora turned to give her a steady, thoughtful stare. You may have lived as a human, but what did you experience? Obviously not the good sides of life if you're willing to let it all vanish. For a few long moments they stared at each other. It's that, or fall into oblivion, never knowing... even you don't know just what your sons created. Come feel everything there is to feel. She held her hands out in a pleading gesture.

FEELING IS SOMETHING THAT EXISTS BENEATH ME... Pandora said.

Then maybe it's time you rested, and explored. Blossom said gently. Being beneath what you were isn't horrible, hell Boomer was in Eternity, he was practically an angel... but he came back to be with... us. She turned around to look back at Boomer with a gentle gaze.

REST... Pandora replied, looking down at her, then closing his eyes. He grunted in pain when another surge of power tore through his face, though he put his one good hand up to hide it before they could see its effects. UHN... VERY WELL... FIGMENT... ONE OF YOU WILL INHERIT MY POWER... WHO WILL IT BE?

Me. Blossom said instantly.

NO! The others streaked up and grabbed her, pulling her back.

What are you doing? Let me go!" She demanded.

I'm the one who's going to be taking his place! Brick shot back.

Oh nonono, you're not getting out of being a father so easily Brick! Buttercup exclaimed the moment she heard that. You are NOT leaving me to raise a kid on my own you hear me? I won't be a single mother or I will kill you! I will come back up here and literally kill you!

I'm the leader, so it's only natural it should be me! Blossom told them seriously.

No Blossom, what on Earth would we all do without you? Boomer asked softly. You're the reason we can all stand together and don't kill each other... you're the reason I wanted to stay. He told her.

Boomer... I know I'm sorry but... I couldn't live with myself if it was anyone else. Whoever takes this power could use it to rid the world of hatred, anger, depravity... they could remake it into paradise. You won't need me and I couldn't live with myself if it was anyone else. Blossom replied with a gentle voice, trying to make him understand.

Make the world perfect... Bubbles whispered to herself, turning to look over at Pandora, who waited somewhat impatiently since the power was still tearing into him uncontrollably. Make everyone happy... slowly she turned to float toward the deity, unnoticed by the others who were still arguing vehemently among themselves.

Do it to me... give me that power! She pleaded with her arms spread out to her sides. The others overheard her however, whirling to see her floating in front of the powerful behemoth.

Bubbles no! Blossom yelled in a panic.

Get back here blondie! Buttercup yelled alongside her sister, but it was already too late. Pandora lifted his one good arm in front of him over Bubbles. Slowly the blond Powerpuff Girl turned around to look back at the others with a serene smile.

Don't worry you guys... you don't have to protect me... all you have to do... is be HAPPY. Her voice shifted in mid sentence, expanding beyond a range their minds could even hope to comprehend as the very space around them seemed to shift and bend, seeping into Bubbles small spectral form. She closed her eyes and waited as all the power flooded into her, then exploded outward in a dazzling array of lights. The others were thrown back from the force, hurtling through the darkness.

BUBBLES! Four screams pierced through the darkness before finally, everything faded out to all of them, to everybody who existed.

The wind was the only sound Blossom could hear, the feeling of it brushing against her cheek the only thing that told her she was back in her physical body. She pushed herself up to her hands and knees and looked around, her eyes going wide when she saw the others lying on the ground unconscious. Gone were the deformed, puff-like bodies she'd come to know as their own. She looked down at her own hands quickly, seeing her own fingers spreading out from her hand, her dress reshaped to conform to the signs of her own maturity.

She blinked and looked up at the sky, trying to find any sign of her missing sister, though she knew there was no hope now of finding her. Her eyes grew moist as she reached one hand up to the sky, trying to find a way to reach the sibling she knew should have been with them. She tried to fly, to find a way back, but she found she no longer had her powers. So she sat on her knees in the grass, staring up at the sky longingly.

How could she have done this... she knew it would hurt them... how could she take herself away from them? She turned her head to look over at the others, almost against her will. She saw Boomer lying on the ground unconscious, unaware of what had happened. She'd been fighting to try to protect him... him and all the others. Of course... she now realized why it had had to happen... she had been fighting for the wrong reasons. After so long, she ceased fighting for justice and happiness and began fighting for her own existence and happiness... they all had... except for Bubbles.

I just wanted everyone to be happy! Bubbles' vehement cries from so long ago rang through Blossoms mind, filling her with a sense of regret and guilt she'd never thought of before. That was all Bubbles had ever fought for... to make everyone around her happy. It was all she'd ever wanted. Slowly Blossom looked up at the sky again, no more tears falling to the ground, her sorrow replaced by a sense of pride and respect she'd never known for her childlike sibling. "Well Bubbles... you can finally do it... I hope you're happy doing what you've always dreamed of." She actually smiled up at her dear sister, and the choice she'd made, for them all...

She looked over to her side to see a man standing on the hill staring down at them. He looked like any other man dressed in a black formal suit and tie with sunglasses and perfectly smoothed back hair. Still, she somehow knew who he was just from the aura he gave off. It wasn't an aura of power or strength or control, but rather, one of relief. She smiled up at him and waved, and he waved back with a return smirk before he turned to walk off again.

She pushed herself up to her feet and began to stumble away from the small field she'd been asleep in, deciding to let the others rest and wake on their own. The change in Townsville was astonishing, there were no criminals trying to do anything, nobody fighting or bickering, everything was just... calm. She spun as she walked, taking in all the sites she could as several people looked at her curiously, then just shrugged and left. She stopped spinning and saw two familiar figures standing in front of one of the houses... Bluebell and Whoopass Buttercup, both affected the same way Blossom herself had been.

She continued down the street until she saw a child standing outside her own house with the Professor, a child she recognized the instant she saw him, even though his own body had been changed. The Professor turned to smile at her, looking more vigorous than she'd seen him in a long time, even if he was still a bit gray in the hair. Boston turned around to smile at her as well, his eyes twinkling without a shadow of what they'd once held. Blossom smiled back silently... no words needed to be exchanged. It was obvious enough what had happened, and they would find out about Bubbles soon enough. For now, she would let things stand as they were...

Two figures walked outside the temple that stood amid the swirling colors of Eternity, one a blood red figure with crimson wings spreading from his back. The other was an aged, wizened looking old man with long white hair, wearing a long blue robe that brushed against the ground as he walked. Together they walked up to the edge of the palaces island amid the possibilities of life itself, the swirling colors of Eternity. The dark one smirked when he saw the site, but the old man smiled warmly and put one hand over his heart, knowing what it meant. There shaped by the swirling colors of Eternity was the image of Blossom and Buttercup, smiling and laughing while Bubbles gleefully jumped on top of them. They all looked so happy, it couldn't help but warm this old man's heart. From nowhere in particular came the sound of a little girl's high-pitched laughter, filled with glee and happiness. Truly, a remarkable heart's wish had been fulfilled.

THE END 


End file.
